Main Street: The end is near (for the winter)

By Lisa Scagliotti | November 26, 2020

Crews last week put down temporary asphalt top coats for some sidewalks for the winter. Permanent concrete sidewalks will be completed in 2021. Photo by Gordon Miller.

Work on the Main Street reconstruction project goes quiet in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, resuming briefly Monday with Tuesday marking the official end of road work for 2020.

According to Barb Farr, transportation liaison for the town of Waterbury and local spokesperson for the project, crews from J.A. McDonald will wrap up their work next week on year two of the three-year $21 million project. 

She cautions, however, that the new traffic signal at the intersection of Stowe and Main streets still needs to be completed. That is not scheduled yet because it relies on supplies from the vendor, Farr said, in what should be her final road work update for the season. 

The project when completed next year will have rebuilt much of Main Street in the downtown core and replaced antiquated water and sewer lines along the way. New sidewalks and streetlights are significant upgrades along with eventually burying many of the overhead wire utility lines. 

In the final few days for this year’s work, cleanup will continue in all areas stretching about a mile from the railroad bridge near Dac Rowe Park near the roundabout to Demeritt Place near Subway and the Sunoco station.

Crews are working on the punch list to button up for the winter season. Any work not completed now will resume in the spring, Farr explained. For example, a number of sidewalks received a temporary top coat of asphalt for the winter. Permanent concrete sidewalks will be installed in 2021.

For the final few days, flaggers and pedestrian crossers who have become familiar faces along Main Street since springtime will stand watch to assist motorists and pedestrians until the end.  

Farr noted, too, that the final steps are contingent on weather, equipment, etc., and could last a tad longer should something not go exactly according to plan.