As Concord spends $2 million to bury utility lines on South Main Street, the crews are laying the groundwork to do one block more.
The Concord city council approved the last-minute project in April. As an add-on to Main Street construction, the city will take down lines in front of the Concord Food Cooperative, the former Department of Employment Security building, the Eagles building, the Equality Health Center and a few local offices.
City officials said burying the lines for another block – in front of the John F. Kennedy Building apartments and the Capitol Center for the Arts – would add nearly $1 million to the price tag. So those lines won’t be included in this summer’s construction.
But last week, City Engineer Ed Roberge said construction crews are adding the necessary cement vaults to that area in case the council ever decides to underground that block of lines. As an excavator dug a deep hole in front of the Capitol Center for the Arts last Wednesday, Roberge called it a “future consideration.”
“We know city council wants to consider that block at some point,” Roberge said.
Burying the utility lines is a complex process, one that could push the limits of the Main Street project time frame. While heavy construction is ongoing on the east side of the street right now, Severino Trucking Co. has already started preparation for the utility work on the west side of the street. The city needs to coordinate with multiple companies – from Comcast to FairPoint to smaller telecommunications providers.
“It’s a lot of people in the room,” Roberge said.
The construction itself involves multiple steps. First, crews have installed large concrete vaults under the sidewalk – “like underground rooms,” project spokesman Brett St. Clair said. As big as 10 feet tall, they will house the utilities below the surface.
That work was completed last week. Next comes the conduit, or tubes, to protect the wires while they are underground. Finally, the utilities themselves will move the wires and make sure all service connections are preserved.
Most businesses have been cooperative, Roberge said. Merchants like the Concord Food Cooperative have vocally supported the removal of the overhead lines.
“They’re really looking forward to this,” Roberge said. “It’s going to change the whole complexion of this downtown area.”
Construction will switch to the west side of the street July 18. In the meantime, utility work might block parking spaces in the work zone; however, southbound traffic will remain open.
Even with the added utility work, the city engineer said the new streetscape is still scheduled to be done Nov. 11.
“I reserve the right to amend that because of the utility work,” he added.
By its completion this fall, the Main Street project will redesign and rebuild nine blocks of downtown. With underground utilities added to the bill, its total cost will be more than $13 million for construction, design and marketing. For more information, visit concordmainstreetproject.com.
(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321, mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)