PORT TOWNSEND — Taylor Street is scheduled to open to vehicle traffic today, ending a four-month downtown closure that involved buttressing the sidewalks, repaving the street and moving utility wires underground.
“It’s been a long wait, but it will be worth it,” Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Teresa Verraes said. “It really will make a difference down there.”
No ceremony is planned. The barriers will either be quietly removed at
7 a.m. or in the early afternoon depending on the completion of crosswalk striping, according to Strider Construction superintendent Steve McCauley.
The celebration takes place July 7 with the “Hard Hats and Carhartts” party downtown from noon to 6 p.m.
The activities will include a costume contest, with the winners chosen based on their most imaginative interpretation of the party’s theme.
Contest winners will be announced at 3 p.m. and will receive theater and movie tickets.
Live music by Blacky Sheridan will take place between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., with other acts to be announced.
The party overlaps with the monthly gallery walk, which begins at 5:30 p.m.
Work on Taylor Street between Washington Street and Union Wharf, which was originally expected to be completed by the end of May, won’t be entirely finished until the end of July.
Even though Taylor Street opens today there are two tasks that need to be completed: the installation of a wooden walkway on either side of the street between Water Street and the pier, and the removal of utility poles on the west side of Taylor Street between Washington and Water streets.
This was delayed when the needed wire was not ordered by CenturyLink in time for the June target date.
A CenturyLink spokesperson said the wire was ordered as soon as the city provided the data for the proper amount of cable, but City Manager David Timmons said he felt the wire should have been made available in time for the project to be completed in time for the street’s opening.
Engineer Samantha Trone said the wire has arrived at CenturyLink’s headquarters and she is coordinating a schedule for the installation, although no date has been set.
Once CenturyLink installs the wire and removes the utility poles, Strider will return to plug the holes. Timmons said.
Even though the end is in sight Timmons is still frustrated by the delay.
“CenturyLink’s name is a good one for them because it takes them a century to link anything up,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
