Previous attempts at improving the foundation or the base on which the Main Street pavers sit or replacing the pavers with new pavers did not produce a lasting remedy. Recognizing that and as a temporary fix for this winter, our public works crews last autumn covered the deepest depressions in the Main Street crosswalk pavers with asphalt to attempt to level those crosswalks with the rest of the street. When warm weather arrives, major work will begin to correct the crosswalks by removing the pavers and replacing them with asphalt, along with a new thermoplastic imprinting product called DuraTherm. Here’s what’s been going on with that:
A year or so ago, our ReDiscover Hamilton organization, on behalf of the Main Street Area Association of local businesses, applied for federal funding that would remove Main Street’s pavers at each crosswalk crossing Main Street and put in their place asphalt and a thermoplastic imprint called DuraTherm. City street engineers, working with Main Street business leaders in the summer of 2009, reviewed drawings from DuraTherm, selected a cinnamon color for the asphalt imprint and chose the font that would be used to incorporate logos for the Main Street Area Association, as well as the Rossville Historic District, into the DuraTherm design.
Last year, the project was approved by City Council and the federal funding authority, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city sought bids from interested contractors; however, only one bid was received at the August 2009 opening, and the amount of the bid ($391,492) exceeded the project’s budget. That one bid was rejected, and Hamilton’s public works engineering staff, with the help of our local organizations, went back to the drawing board.
They re-evaluated the bid items and modified several of them in hopes of shortening construction time and reducing cost. The revised contract was re-advertised in the fall of 2009. In late October 2009, five bids were received and, after references were checked, a contract in the amount of $320,250 was awarded to the low bidder, CK Excavating Inc., a firm from Eaton.
Because the DuraTherm product requires consistent temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to install properly, the work was not performed last fall (which was a very cool autumn) and, instead, will be undertaken during the 2010 paving season.
From the telephone calls we receive at the municipal building, we are very much aware that our traveling public is anxious to see a remedy for the crosswalk pavers on Main Street. Our engineers and street professionals in the public works department believe that remedy is at hand, and as the days warm, our public will witness that correction as the crosswalk replacement work begins.
The contractor is going to begin by repairing the stone storm sewer at Main and F streets. They will then begin replacing the sidewalk curb ramps to make them ADA (disability) compliant. Next, miscellaneous repairs will be performed at the sidewalk, catch basins and the brick pavers in the strip beside the sidewalk.
It is anticipated that by the end of March, CK Excavating will begin removing the pavers in the crosswalks. The plan is to start at an intersection and remove the pavers from both crosswalks for 1/3 the width of Main Street on the same side and the intersecting street’s crosswalk on that side. The center third of the crosswalk in Main Street will then be removed. Work will then proceed to the final third of the crosswalk in Main Street as well as the intersecting side street.
For all crosswalks in Main Street, immediately following removal of the pavers and concrete base, the open area will be filled with asphalt base. For the side streets, only the brick pavers will be removed but not the concrete base. The open area will be filled with asphalt surface course.
In early May, weather permitting, installation of the DuraTherm crosswalk markings will begin. The asphalt surface will be heated and a metal template of the pattern will be pressed into the surface. Next, thermoplastic strips of the same pattern will be laid into the impressions and heated to bond to the asphalt surface. This work should be complete by the end of May.
During the brick paver removal, asphalt paving and DuraTherm crosswalk installation, two-way traffic will be maintained at all times, although cross streets will be closed in succession as needed.
And in answer to those who have questions about potholes, our city pothole crew is always on the lookout for potholes in streets. We fix them constantly, and try our best to fix all of them. But for those we may have missed, if Hamilton residents wish to call in a particular pothole location to be placed on our repair list, they can do so by contacting Bob Sutton at the city garage at (513) 785-7580, or by email to suttonr@ci.hamilton.oh.us, or you can call me at (513) 785-7006.
Mark Brandenburger is Hamilton’s interim city manager and the city’s new director of the Department of Special Utility Projects.