By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – City Administrator Mark Kibby said the Allen Road bridge may have two lanes open by Thanksgiving, while Finance Director Bob Cady said the new salt barn is near completion.
At the online Nov. 10 city council meeting, Kibby said the Allen Road bridge over Ecorse Creek, near Thunderbowl Lanes, remains closed as Wayne County continues to rebuild the bridge, but he has begun to hear good news about the project’s progress.
“They will have two lanes open to traffic sometime around Thanksgiving,” he said. “Then the project will finish the restoration at the end of the year or into early next year.”
Kibby said opening two lanes at the end of the month will help Thunderbowl and traffic flow, and it will allow city officials to get to the new Department of Public Services construction site more easily.
Cady said the warm weather has been welcome at the DPS construction site.
“We were about six weeks behind schedule on this project, and we probably made up, over the last 10 days, close to two-and-a-half weeks,” he said.
Cady said the roof is on the main DPS building, the insulation is in, and they are waiting for the bricklayers to get the sides on, which will enclose the building and allow work to continue through the winter.
He said some of the poured brick walls, which had been mismarked by an outside entity, were being finished up for some of the office area. He said the city will not bear the cost of the error.
Cady said city officials are still waiting to hear from neighboring International Wholesale regarding the purchase of 20 feet of land the city needs for an outlet to the creek.
“I did get their permission to take down the fence in the back so we can put our temporary bridge in to get to the other side of the creek,” he said. “So, they can get back there and start pouring the water and sewer lines, which will start this week.”
Cady said the concrete for the salt barn road has been poured, and the blocks on which the salt barn will be mounted are being installed.
“The salt barn probably will be operational by the end of November, so we’ll be able to have that stocked and ready to go,” he said. Public Service Director Tom Murray “told me we have about 300 tons in the build shed, if it doesn’t fall down before it snows, that is about enough for three good snows, so we are in pretty good shape.”
Cady said the masonry contractor has the office area almost completely blocked in, and the masonry work will move to the back of the building by next week.
He said electrical contractors will meet with the alarm suppliers later in the week to make sure there are conduits in place for the security door wiring before the door frames are put in place.
“I am trying to make sure we don’t have to do anything twice,” Cady said.
He said DTE will put in the new three-phase electrical on the new pole at the beginning of next week.
“To date, we’ve got a total of just under $2.5 million into the project,” Cady said. “The council approved $7.3 million, and we are under budget on this project so far.”
He said the site “is getting smaller by the minute. It’s getting very crowded, and I had to get me an orange vest just so I didn’t get run over.”
He said the base coat of the Thunderbowl parking lot by the Allen Road bridge is down, and the wear coat should be completed by the end of the week.
Kibby praised Cady’s oversite of the DPS project.
“His presence on that project has helped tremendously, and I know Tom Murray appreciates it as well,” he said. “It is definitely a team effort.”