Reconstruction of Wellington Road 8 through Drayton is expected to begin in May and shut down traffic on Main Street here for a portion of the summer months.
The project, which includes reconstruction of the Main Street bridge, will be completed under one contract to cover works for both Mapleton Township and Wellington County.
Mark Eby, construction manager for the Wellington County roads department, explained in an email that two years ago delamination of the concrete bridge deck just below the asphalt surface caused a small pot hole that required repair.
The project brought attention to the condition of the bridge and it was determined rehabilitation was required as soon as it could be designed and budgeted for. The rehabilitation of the bridge will cover a new concrete overlay, patch repairs, new concrete Texas style open railing parapet wall, waterproofing and paving.
A storm sewer on the north side of the road that runs under the sidewalk from the FS Partners parking lot to an outlet in the river drains the Mapleton industrial park and some of the county right of way. This storm sewer is past its useful life and requires replacement, Eby said.
There is also another storm sewer on the south side of the road that drains the rest of the county right of way and connections to Drayton streets. The plan is to completely remove the aged storm sewer and replace the storm sewer on the south side with one large enough to convey all of the water from the industrial park, county right of way and Drayton streets.
The county asked the township if it had any underground work it wanted to complete at the same time. Mapleton will be installing a new watermain on Main Street from east of the bridge, across the bridge (suspended under the bridge) and connecting to the existing watermain on Main Street west of the bridge. This will provide a loop for the water system on the west side of the river. Mapleton will also be completing work to improve the streets connecting to Main Street and has budgeted $600,000 for this purpose in 2016.
The road will be repaved at the end of construction from Wellington Street (Wellington Road 11) to just west of Drayton Industrial Drive.
“Since we know that there will be disruption, the intent is to do it all at once and get it over with instead of doing it over multiple different years in smaller parts. There should be economies of scale to complete a larger project as well,” said Eby.
Tendering will occur after a community open house, planned for March 2 from 6 to 8pm at the PMD arena community hall. Eby said this will allow for incorporation into the design of anything that comes out of the open house. Tendering will take place in mid-March, with the award letter going to the county roads committee in April and then county council for final approval.
The budget for the road works is $1.2 million and the bridge work is $850,000. All work will be in one contract.
“The intended schedule for work is to allow the contractor(s) to determine how they think it will be best to complete the work, but it will have to fall within our specified window,” Eby noted. He added the road and sewer works will be allowed to proceed in May and June but the contractor will have to maintain one lane of two-way traffic during the day and two lanes of two-way traffic at night.
“This will allow the buses to run until the end of the school year and FS Partners to complete their spring spraying and fertilizing without having to drive around a detour,” said Eby.
The work for the bridge will have to be completed with the road closed. This will occur in July and August. A detour will be posted for traffic. There will be one sidewalk maintained on the bridge as much as possible throughout the closure.
“This will allow residents of Drayton living on the west side of the river to walk to the east and not have to drive around the detour to get a carton of milk, go to the park, etc.,” Eby explained.
