Court Street construction time will be cut short this year because of Ohio University’s quarters to semesters switch — leaving workers only eight weeks to complete the long-awaited renovations.
After almost five years of planning, the city has finally raised enough money to begin a $432,000 renovation project to repair the storm line running under north Court Street.
The city has been aware the line needed to be replaced for some time, but could not afford the repairs until Ohio granted the city the necessary funds, Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said.
The project, which is slated to begin in July, will be funded primarily through a $319,236 grant awarded to the city by the Ohio Public Works Commission. The remaining $112,000 will come from the Storm Water Sewer Fund and the Street Repair Fund, Wiehl said.
“We decided to go for it after we were awarded the Public Works money,” he said. “It’s been needing fixing for a while and like anything, its get worse and worse until you finally stand up and say ‘I gotta do it.’ ”
The project will replace and repair the storm tunnel and storm line underneath Court Street near Fern Street, re-brick the north end of Court Street and repair the sidewalks on portions of Court, Grosvenor, Franklin, East State and Morris streets, Project Manager Jessica Adine said in an email.
A 2010 assessment of the storm tunnel’s structural integrity found there were locations in the tunnel with missing, displaced or cracked stones, Adine said.
“Investigators noted that areas of the tunnel bed were soft, indicating that the tunnel may be settling from erosion that occurs during high flow events,” Adine said. “The storm tunnel needs to be replaced before any failures occur.”
Wiehl added that maintaining the infrastructure underneath Court is essential to the functioning and upkeep of the street.
“Before you fix a street, you need to look at the water sewer so you don’t make a nice street and then have to tear it up later,” said Wiehl.
The project is designed to minimize closures of Court Street and the east sidewalk, Adine said, adding that there will be detours for cars and pedestrians.
“Restricting access to the construction area provides a safe work zone for pedestrians, vehicle traffic, the contractor and city representatives,” she said.
Though the project is scheduled to be completed before move-in weekend Aug. 25 and 26, Wiehl said the city will be hard-pressed to finish the job before students arrive back in town after a short summer because of the quarters to semesters transition.
“It gets pretty nasty,” Wiehl said. “We’ll probably be working around the student population, but we’ll be going as fast as we can. There’ll always be surprises, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”
Though the timeline may be tight, Athens Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-at large, said she is eager for construction to begin and to further the city’s goal of improving infrastructure.
“I’m looking forward to the improvements,” she said. “One of our key issues is to keep the city in good working order and good operating shape for the residents of the community.”
kg278810@ohiou.edu
