Day 122, Wed 8/4

Another great working day yesterday except for the mosquitos.....Yes, those buggers attack the construction workers (and those watching construction) pretty hard during the day. They are especially bad in the heavy foliage area of the current work zones.

Yesterday I mentioned that that water main crew on Farwell had placed 120' by lunch; well that day, they installed over 320' of pipe. Yesterday however, they did not get the same distance. In fact, by mid afternoon, they had just completed their second 'stick'--each stick being 20' for a total of 40'. But, they were just as productive.... You may ask, "How can they be just as productive with such varied distances?"

Well, in addition to the 40', they were able to set a new fire hydrant, just outside of 822 Farwell. In this section of Farwell, the main is being laid closer to the lake side of the edge of roadway. The hydrant however, is on the non lake side of the road. To get to that hydrant location, the crew had to maneuver and clear a path (7-8' down) that included gas lines, laterals and mains for both sewer and water. This is very delicate work with lots of hand digging which is very time consuming. So, you may not see alot of "distance" covered, but, they took care of some very monotonous work.

A couple other points of interest. Residents in the 800 block of Farwell, though driving on asphalt all these years, also had a base consisting of a concrete road under the asphalt. There is a very narrow path of a concrete road, likely put in many decades ago, when cars were not as big, not as fast, and the need/desire for wide roads was not yet established. As Tom said, these roads were built for the Model T type cars.

Also during this phase of construction, several "mysteries" have been solved. The pulverizer found a manhole that staff was never able to locate....it was buried by about 8-10" of ashpalt. While trying to find that manhole, many "readings" were taken with equipment that always lead the staff on wild goose chases as there was indications everywhere. Well, those readings were searching for the hard metal of the manhole and the false readings were based on the rebar that was in the concrete deeper under the pavement. Mysteries solved.

Work continues on Farwell water main, still getting through the 800 block. For those off the private drive in the 800 block, the crew will go past your road and then return after the main in your section is activated. We will correspond with you directly when that will occur.

New Castle/Charing Cross:
Concrete driveways and curb was installed yesterday and they looked pretty good. A reminder to keep off those for several more days while the hardening process takes place. Also, the concrete curb is only going in those extremely flat areas where drainage is a problem. So, if you dont have concrete in front of your home, they did not forget you, you will have asphalt coming soon. If you want to see how this works, take a look at Woodland Circle.