PORT ANGELES — The downtown First Street stormwater project met a major milestone earlier this week.
The city’s contractor, Road Construction Northwest Inc., finished applying a base coat of asphalt over the right lane of the road Wednesday after installing the last segment of a stormwater pipe, said Jim Mahlum, city civil engineer.
The pipe runs under the south lane between Valley and Laurel streets.
The rest of the project, which involves connecting catch basins to the pipe and street paving, should be less disruptive to traffic, Mahlum said.
But many business owners downtown said they haven’t had much to complain about.
“They’ve been really good,” said Bob Lumens, who owns Northwest Fudge and Confections with his wife, Lindi.
“I have to admit, I never saw a moment where they were not just going like crazy.”
Before construction started, Lindi Lumens voiced concern over whether she and her husband could stay in business as crews dug up the street.
But business hasn’t been bad, the Lumens said, explaining they’ve been helped by efforts from the city to inform people that businesses are accessible and the workers themselves becoming some of their best patrons.
“We try to be good to them, too,” said Bob Lumens, adding that he has tossed free bags of candy to some of the workers.
Nearby, Jenice Shaw said she also has no complaints.
The owner of The Trading Post said she was one of the downtown merchants who voted for construction to occur only in nighttime hours to lessen disruptions during business hours.
The city asked business owners to pick between day and nighttime construction, with the trade-off being that work at night would take longer.
But Shaw said she’s glad it’s happened during the day.
“I can’t really say it hurt much. A little bit, but not much,” she said.
“It’s a lot less painful than we thought it would be.”
Don Zeller, who petitioned against the daytime schedule, said he still thinks it’s a mistake for the work to occur during business hours.
“It’s just common sense,” he said.
Zeller, who owns Zeller’s Antiques, acknowledged that the project has been less disruptive than he originally thought.
“It’s not so bad; it can be better,” he said.
The project is still expected to finish early, sometime around May 24, Mahlum said.
Previously, it was expected to finish in mid-June.
Beginning Monday, RCNI will begin connecting the pipe to the stormwater catch basins on the north side of the road, Mahlum said.
Then, work crews will replace crosswalks and repave both lanes of the road between Valley and Laurel streets.
The block between Laurel and Lincoln streets also will be repaved, Mahlum said.
Mahlum said a striped sidewalk will be added between Valley and Cherry streets.
Under the current schedule, RCNI will work from 9 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays and from 6 p.m. to midnight Sundays. Work can be done Fridays and Saturdays if necessary, the city said.
The city has budgeted $225,000 for the work, but the project is expected to cost $2.25 million.
The National Park Service is picking up the rest of the bill because the project is part of its Elwha River restoration effort.
The First Street project is intended to remove enough stormwater from the city’s sewer system to offset the contribution of sewage from the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation.
The tribe will be connected to the city’s sewers because it’s expected that its septic tanks will become unusable as the ground-water level rises when the two Elwha River dams are removed.
That work was supposed to begin last month but has been delayed by up to 60 days. The delay is caused by the permitting process taking longer than expected, the Park Service has said.
The Park Service agreed to fund a stormwater disconnect project to offset the impact the additional wastewater would have on the city’s sewage overflow problem.
The sewer system is scheduled to be built summer 2012.
________
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
