Construction Update - BLUE section 9/18/24
Construction update from the Road Commission:
For the remainder of this week
Curb and driveway approach removal on the second side of streets in the eastern part of the section (Overhill, Hamilton, N. Williamsbury and Glengarry Circle West) will continue this week. As a reminder, when driveway approaches are removed, they will be replaced with a temporary stone approach to preserve driveway access. However, there can be a delay of up to an hour between approach removal and laying the temporary stone. Residents may need to allow extra time to access their driveways when curb removal is proceeding down their streets.
Underdrain installation on will begin on Overhill on Thursday 9/19, then proceed on to Hamilton, N. Williamsbury, and Glengarry Circle West.
Mike’s Landscaping will be out making repairs.
Next week
Curb removal and underdrain installation will be completed on Overhill, Hamilton, N. Williamsbury and Glengarry Circle West. Verdeterre will adjust the grade over the drains after the underdrain installation is complete.
Milling and grading will begin next week in the BLUE section. The planned schedule for milling:
Monday 9/23: part of Ardmoor north of Burning Bush, then Burning Bush.
Tuesday 9/24: the rest of Ardmoor, then Hupp Cross and start Wooddale Court.
Wednesday 9/25: finish Wooddale Court, then Wooddale Road up to Half Moon, start Roland.
Thursday 9/26: Roland, Tuckahoe, Half Moon, and the last piece of Wooddale near Bradway.
After a street is milled, the grading process will begin on that street. Grading may take several days to complete on a given street. See discussion below for parking and access limitations during the milling and grading process. Key point — there can be no street parking during milling and grading, which will take several days on each street.
Milling, grading and paving operations — parking restrictions and access limitations
The first step in preparing for paving is to mill off the existing asphalt, down to the stone sub-grade. The milling equipment will move slowly, blocking the entire width of the street. A series of trucks will haul away the asphalt being removed. There can be no parking on the street during the milling operation. (Concrete curbs and driveway approaches will be fully cured by this point; driveway parking will be available to all homes on streets being milled.)
The milling equipment will block driveways as it moves down the street, thus residents may experience delays in getting into/out of their driveways. Because of the size of the equipment involved, the contractor will not be able to accommodate requests to move aside and allow residents to get into or out of their driveways. Residents will need to plan ahead and allow for a 30 to 60-minute delay for driveway/street access. Traffic will need to detour around the milling equipment. Flaggers will be positioned at both ends of the street.
Once the asphalt is removed, vehicles will be able to drive on the sub-grade. The sub-grade will be 4 inches or so below the concrete curb at each driveway, and the contractor will provide temporary stone ramps across the drop. Similarly, the sub-grade will be below the level of the pavement at any cross street that hasn’t been milled yet; temporary stone will be provided at these intersections. However, even with the ramps, the curb or pavement drop to the sub-grade may present an issue with low-profile vehicles (sports cars, for example) entering/leaving the driveway or turning onto/from the cross street. SUVs and most sedans can usually manage the drop without bottoming out. Residents with low-profile vehicles will want to park them outside of the milling/grading/paving area if they need access to the vehicles during milling/grading/paving.
After the milling operation is completed, the sub-grade will be prepared for paving. This will involve replacement of sub-grade that has deteriorated or is not of sufficient quality, adding additional stone as needed to bring it to the proper level, and grading to the appropriate form. There can be no parking on the street during the grading work. Traffic may be delayed or detoured during grading as the contractor works to get the sub-grade in shape to accept the new pavement. There will be flaggers at either end of the streets during the sub-grade work.
Once the street has been graded, the first layer of asphalt can be laid. During paving, the street will be closed to ALL traffic and there can be no street parking. The operation will begin at 7 am; any vehicle parked on the street at that point is subject to towing. (A single vehicle parked on the street will hold up the entire paving process.) Residents will not be able to enter or leave their driveways during the paving work.
Paving is done in a full-width operation, spanning the entire street. A procession of asphalt trucks will will back down the street to supply the asphalt for paving. Flaggers will be placed at either end of the street to ensure no traffic enters. Residents will not be able to enter/leave their driveways during the paving process.
When laid, the asphalt is hot enough to melt shoes and tires and cause significant injury. The asphalt will cool over several hours; once it is cool enough to drive on, that portion of the street will be opened to vehicle traffic, usually in a few hours. Homes at the end of the street to be paved last may need to wait until the following morning for the asphalt to be sufficiently cooled.
The milling and sub-grade preparation will be a multi-day process. Residents may want to have a plan to park in their driveways or elsewhere throughout the process. Additionally, it would be a good idea not to schedule contractor work on your home, given that street parking is not available and there will be delays in getting down the street during the milling and grading work. Limiting traffic on these streets throughout these operations will help the road contractors do their work as efficiently as possible.
On the paving day, residents who need access to their vehicles will want to park away from the paving operation. Residents with lawn crews or other workers will want to schedule them for a different day than when paving is planned.
Ajax will place notices on front doors about 48 hours ahead of the day when the milling process will begin. Similarly, Ajax will notify residents about 48 hours ahead of paving. Please make sure to remove vehicles from the street before 7 am on the date specified to allow the contractors to start on time and do their work efficiently. Cars parked on the street during the milling, grading or paving operations are subject to towing. Please ensure all family members, sitters, housekeepers and any other workers in your home are aware of the parking restrictions during these operations.
Parking suggestions during the milling and grading operations
Driveway parking is the best option during milling and grading. There may be delays in getting out of driveways as discussed above, and residents will want to allow extra time. For street parking, residents generally will want to park behind the construction work (that is, park on a street where the construction operations have been completed) or out of the construction zone completely. Other than driveway parking, there are limited options to consider, given how tight this part of the Blue section is. Options:
Ardmoor and the eastern part of Burning Bush: parking on the part of Ardmoor that is not in the Village is likely the closest option. Western part of Burning Bush - Half Moon should be an option on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; for the rest of the week, Bradway Blvd. will likely be the best option.
Hupp Cross, Wooddale, Roland, Tuckahoe, Wooddale Court and Half Moon: Parking on Bradway or streets south of Bradway Blvd. will be the closest options.
Looking ahead . . .
The curbing process will likely begin in the eastern part of the Blue section (Overhill, etc.) the week of September 30. Curbing includes removal of temporary driveway approaches, pouring concrete curbs, laying concrete driveway approaches and allowing the concrete to cure. Residents will not have access to their driveways for about two weeks, starting from the day the driveway approach is removed. This allows time for the concrete curbs/driveway approaches to cure before there is vehicle traffic on them. See more information on the curbing process and related limitations on driveway access and parking restrictions HERE.
Residents who will be impacted by the concrete work will be notified about 48 hours in advance with a notice on front doors. The notice will include the date on which the work is expected to start. Vehicles should be moved from driveways/garages and parked elsewhere prior to 7 am on the date indicated to avoid being blocked in for the two-week period.
New driveway approaches will generally be concrete, unless the Road Commission contacts the impacted resident to discuss a different material (asphalt, re-installing brick pavers, etc.) Residents who previously had asphalt driveway approaches can request an asphalt replacement (instead of concrete) by emailing Wayne Dabrowski at wdabrowski@rcoc.org.
Paving in the Blue section will likely begin around the week of October 7, depending on the condition of the sub-grade and weather conditions. More information should be available next week.
Thank you for your continued patience and understanding during the Roads project.