Road team pushes to be ready for festivities

The latest meeting of the Wrangell Road Improvement on June 21 held the promise of Front Street being ready – at least partly – for the Fourth of July celebration in the borough.

When asked about whether the intersection of Front Street and Campbell Drive would be ready in time for the annual Independence Day parade, John McGraw of McGraw Construction was less than sure about the state of the intersection come July 4.

“It should be ready,” McGraw said.

McGraw also added that his crew is pushing forward faster than ever to get the street ready.

“We originally had a July 15 deadline for this intersection,” McGraw said. “We’re working so much faster than we have before and this should be ready just in time for the parade. Cones and fencing will be gone, so it will be awesome for the Fourth of July.”

An electrical change order requested by the city will leave the east corner of the intersection unfinished, but McGraw added this incomplete area would not affect the parade route.

“It is on the east side of Front Street and the city needs this area to make some changes, but it won’t prevent access to the floats,” McGraw added.

Since the last project team meeting on June 7, curb and gutter, as well as sidewalk and roadway have been coming closer to completion at the Lynch Street intersection. Sub-excavation has also been completed beyond Campbell Drive, and all sewer and water service connections have been completed to Episcopal Street.

That main, which runs between St. Michael’s Street and Episcopal Street has also been disinfected and is fully functional to Sentry Hardware and other businesses in the area.

During the next week, work is slated to continue with pouring of concrete curb, gutter, sidewalks and roadway from Lynch Street to Campbell Drive. Sub-excavation between Campbell Drive and Episcopal will continue, with water main installation set for Episcopal as well.

The next meeting of the project team is set for July 19 at 10 a.m.