Despite rainy weather, local road projects remain on schedule

With the less than favorable rainy weather over the last several weeks, it would be easy to imagine the numerous road construction projects happening across the City of Tecumseh may be behind schedule, but that is not true, according to Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch. “We’re not behind,” Welch said. “We’ve planned enough gaps between projects, it [the rain] really hasn’t affected our ability to get work done. I think Tim [Bock, Supt. of Tecumseh’s Department of Public Works] built in enough downtime that we’re a little ahead of schedule.” One concern for the city before the construction began was the work scheduled to be done in Herrick Park subdivision, which has only one entrance and exit. That work is now completed, except for some minor cleanup. “Everything went remarkably well,” Welch said. “The residents were very patient. There were no major complaints.”Now, crews are working on curbing on South Union Street, Waskins Drive and a few other streets Welch said. “The rain hasn’t slowed us down much,” Bock said, adding the curb work saw no delay because of the rain. Bock said starting in early July, possibly the week of the 6th, milling will start on West Russell Road, Waskins Drive, Shady Lane and the Adrian Street bypass. He said there is no date on when paving would begin. “We’ve got some work to do in between [milling and paving],” Bock said. “We’re pretty much on schedule.”Construction on Union Street between Patterson Street and Chippewa Street along with sections of Pottawatamie and Kilbuck Streets east of Union Street are scheduled to begin near the end of August.Bock confirmed that road construction throughout the city is scheduled to be completed the week before the annual Appleumpkin Festival October 10 and 11. Voters approved a $2.25-million bond sale in November with Gerken Paving Inc. awarded $1,797,687 of the work through four of five contracts. Michael Andrews Concrete was awarded $271,950 worth of curb work through the remaining contract. Both contracts total $2,069,647, leaving $180,353 as a contingency fund.