College Street Construction Will Not Interfere with Fourth of July Events

During Wednesday’s Council meeting, a Council member asked if the College Street construction project would be taking place during the Fourth of July festivities. Village engineer Jerry Turner responded: “Yes.”

This is important because, during the Kiwanis Fourth of July events, Village through traffic is funneled off Broadway and onto College. Not having College Street at this critical moment would be a significant problem. Village Manager Terry Hopkins suggested that the construction project could be adjusted so that the 100 block and 200 block of East College Street would be functioning during this period and that the construction work would be on another portion of the road. Village Engineer Jerry Turner asked what day July 4th fell this year, and the answer was on a Sunday. He said that this meant that this portion of College Street would need to be functional from Thursday, July 1st through Monday, July 5th. [The Kiwanis have the Fourth of July events scheduled from Friday, July 2nd through Monday, July 5th in 2010). Because much of this time period falls on a weekend, Mr. Turner appeared unphased that something could be worked out to both allow the construction and permit the July 4th festivities to proceed without interruption. Village engineer Turner emphasized that it was important for the Village to get this project out to bid early so that the Village could receive the most favorable prices during this competitive bidding period. In the end, Council passed a resolution to proceed with advertising for bids for the project without delay.