PORT TOWNSEND— For the past two weeks, Taylor Street merchants’ customers have faced a maze, having to walk across makeshift wooden bridges to get inside to shop.
An important milestone was reached last week when the sidewalk on the north side of the street was completed in front of stores there, with the areas between the stores due to be filled in this week.
Sidewalks along Taylor Street are being shored up to compensate for “voids” — empty areas below them — that could collapse during earthquakes.
Merchants on the street said the disruption wasn’t as bad as they had expected.
“Yesterday, it was the apex of chaos, but they’ve started to clean it up somewhat,” Lehani’s owner Lynn LeMaster said Friday.
“They work hard out there. It’s a mess, but what are you going to do?”
Quimper Sound owner Mark Haring was pleased about the new sidewalk.
“I think it looks great,” he said.
“I’m just happy there is something being built instead of being torn up.”
The Taylor Street work is the first phase of a four-phase city project estimated to cost a total of $3.5 million — $2 million for the sidewalk and street repair, 87 percent of which is covered by federal grants, and an additional $1.5 million for the placement of utility lines underground, which is a cost born entirely by the city, according to City Manager David Timmons.
Timmons said the project had a $100,000 contingency fund, which will be “eaten up” by the extra expense.
The south side of the street, which includes the reconstructed passage to the Undertown, probably will take several more weeks, said City Engineer Scott Sawyer, who is directing the project.
Taylor Street will be paved by the end of May, Sawyer said.
The other phases of the project are in progress — and all are behind schedule by two to three weeks.
When the project began in February, the city hoped to have the four sections of sidewalk finished by May, in time for the beginning of the tourist season, but that has been pushed back until late June.
“We started a couple of weeks later than we wanted to,” Sawyer said.
“We ran into some delays because the undergrounding of the utilities” — placing utility lines underground — “took longer than we expected.”
The second phase — a repair of a short section of Water Street between Adams and Quincy streets — is nearly finished. It began Feb. 20 and was expected to be finished by March 9.
The third phase, repairing two small sections of Water Street on both sides of the Tyler Street intersection — with no sidewalks torn up — began early this month as planned.
The fourth phase, repairing Taylor Street between Water Street and Union Wharf, is in progress and affects no businesses.
Last week, underground conduits for utility wires for electricity, telephone and cable were set into the new sidewalk area.
The three utility companies will string new cable through the conduits.
When the paving is complete, the utilities will be switched over, and the existing utility poles and wires will be removed.
Project meetings take place every Monday morning with Sawyer, City Engineer Dave Peterson and Timmons.
“So far, it’s gone pretty well,” Timmons said.
“The issue is that the underground has been more complex than we expected,” he said.
“We have needed to coordinate the utilities and every individual owner.
“It is more complex than just fixing the street,” Timmons added.
“There are always things that you find underground when you dig.”
During work last week, crews found some large boulders on the beach side of Taylor Street that required more powerful equipment to move than was on hand.
“We run into stuff that we don’t expect every day,” Sawyer said.
“It’s part of what we do.”
Sawyer said there was nothing of archaeological value underground.
The most interesting items were some old bottles.
Haring had to close for one day when the sidewalk was installed but said it “hasn’t been all that bad.
“Port Townsend is a pretty good community,” he said.
He said there were people customers who normally didn’t shop there who said they wanted to “come down and spent a little money because we heard you were going through some hard times,” Haring said.
“People come out and spend some money in Port Townsend when they hear that a local business is having a tough time.
“People are trying to keep the community vibrant.”
The absence of chain stores in Port Townsend underscores the town’s commitment to local businesses, Haring said.
“People ask me what’s going on in the street, and it’s almost an irrelevant question because it changes from day to day,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
