Two phases planned for Waupaca project
By Angie Landsverk
When four blocks of Main Street are reconstructed in 2021, the work will take place in two phases.
“This is going to start next spring. We anticipate contractors breaking ground next March,” said Justin Berrens, the city’s public works director.
He said the contractors will do the North Main section first.
The project will begin at Fulton Street and go just beyond Danes Hall of Waupaca, he said during a June 3 informational meeting.
The reconstruction of Main Street will take place from Badger to Granite streets.
Improvements will include reconstruction of the street, replacement of the sanitary sewer and water main, as well as a new storm water system, new sidewalk, curb and gutter.
The utilities under the street are at least 100 years old.
Berrens said the project’s 90% plan estimate shows it being within the $3.7 million budget.
The city anticipates $1.8 million of that will be funded by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation Program, he said.
Berrens said the roadway and street enhancements should fit within the $1.1 million budgeted roadway funds.
First Phase
“We expect to start March 21. It should go into the June/July timeframe,” Berrens said of the project’s first phase.
That will be from Fulton to Granite streets.
Berrens said there will be provisions in the contract to keep the intersection at Main and Fulton streets open with “minimal impact as long as possible.”
He said when the contractors tear up the intersection, they will have “basically 10 days to replace the utilities” under the street and place temporary asphalt there.
From there, work will move to the north section of Main Street, with the intersection of Main and Fulton streets open.
“As construction gets moving, we will have to get back into the intersection to do new curb and gutter and pavement,” Berrens said. “The contractor will have 14 days to complete that.”
Once complete, North Main Street will reopen.
Second Phase
The contractor will then flip to working on the section from Fulton to Badger streets, he said.
“We anticipate starting around July,” Berrens said of that phase.
The overall project will be completed by the end of 2021.
Berrens hopes most of it is done by late October of that year.
City Administrator Aaron Jenson said the project will go out to bid this fall.
The city considered changing the project’s timeline.
Jenson noted there were conversations with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) about pushing the project up.
The city found out it could not do so, he said.
There was also a conversation about pushing the project back.
However, Jenson said with everything that is taking place at the state level, there would not be a guarantee of state funds being available in the future.
The state is covering 80% of the construction costs, while the city is covering 20%.
Jenson said the other concern in pushing the project back would be the impact on the cost, as bids could increase.
Those who watched the June 3 virtual meeting saw the latest rendering of what the completed project will look like.
While the city typically paves its streets in asphalt, Main Street will be concrete, Berrens said.
An analysis by SEH Inc., the city’s engineer for the project, showed concrete being better for the city financially, he said.
The project includes bumpouts, some colored concrete, new streetlights and new trees.
The streetlights will be identical to those behind City Hall.
Berrens said the green ash trees on Main Street will be removed and replaced with a more diverse stock.
Bumpouts, parking
As people watched the meeting on Facebook Live, they were able to comment and ask questions.
There were a few related to the bumpouts, particularly about how they will impact snow plowing.
Berrens said they will make snow removal a little more difficult for the city’s crew.
However, he explained that the DOT required the bumpouts to increase pedestrian safety.
The city wanted to maintain angle parking on Main Street.
The DOT does not see angle parking as being as safe for pedestrians as parallel parking is, Berrens said.
“We had to balance whether we wanted to keep angle parking,” he said.
Berrens said if the city had told the DOT it did not want to install bumpouts, the city would have been required to put parallel parking throughout the downtown.
“The tradeoff was losing 50 to 60% of the parking spots downtown, or installing bumpouts,” he said.
Jenson said the bumpouts have been “narrowed down quite a bit” from what they were initially.
The project will also include turning Session Street into a one-way street from the alley heading east into Main Street.
Berrens said there will then be angle parking on both sides of that street.
“We will pick up a little parking there as a result,” he said.
Removing traffic signals
Another change will be replacing the traffic signals at the intersection of Main and Fulton streets and Main and Badger streets with stop signs.
The intersection of Main and Granite streets will also become a four-way stop, controlled with stop signs.
Berrens said conduit will be placed underground in case traffic signals are warranted in the future.