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	The Manchester Enterprise A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Street repairs hit a snag

By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers

PUBLISHED: April 5, 2007

The first step in the process of rebuilding Hibbard Street already has hit a snag that will put the 90-day project at least two months behind schedule.

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"We hoped to have (bids) let in April so work could start in June, but there was a delay on the engineering side," Village Manager Jeff Wallace told the Manchester Village Council on Monday.

Even though the village had the engineering and financing in place, a paperwork mix-up is to blame for the false start.

"There's been quite a discussion on this; we're a couple of months behind where we expected to be," said Village President Pat Vailliencourt. "Today we are where we are, but the main thing is to keep it going."

Tetra Tech project engineer Ted Erickson took full responsibility for the setback.

"There's no other way to couch it, the delay is Tetra Tech's fault," Erickson said. "In the end, I didn't get the job done."

Wallace said the Michigan Department of Transportation is pushing for the upgrade of Hibbard Street to Class A road standards because it will be the primary detour route for rebuilding M-52 throughout the village planned in 2008.

"Now we're looking at a July bid-letting with work starting in August, or maybe even late July if they really push it," Wallace said.

The total estimated project cost is $1,239,500, and the village is putting up $199,000, a 20 percent match to the main construction work.

Wallace said the total village outlay will be $443,500.

The $199,000 is coming from the municipal street fund, but the village will bear the full cost of replacing or building sidewalks and water and sewer lines for $188,500, and a storm sewer at Hibbard and M-52 will cost $56,000.

"The sidewalks come out of the street fund and the water and sewer comes out of those funds," Wallace said.

He added that the scope of the work is unchanged, despite the delay.

"The project stays the same, nothing has been cut out," he said.

Village resident Don Limpert expressed concern about the steeply sloping driveway into the village office parking lot on Hibbard.

Wallace told him that MDOT said the existing driveway is "just fine," and would not allow an entrance off M-52.

Further, Wallace said, changing the driveway would have required about $80,000 fully funded by the village.

"As a taxpayer, I have a problem with that kind of thinking," Limpert said.

"The highway department is ignoring what I think is a very serious problem, and the time to fix it is now, not after it's built."

Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.