October 12th, 2010

The Contractor, Subcontractors and City Officials met Thursday, October 7th to review the conditions of Phase I of the historic Brick Street project. Throughout the process questions have been raised as to the overall apperance of Court and Main Street, specifically the “birdbaths” or visible depressions and large number of cracked or broken brick amongst the finished area.

Subcontractors were able to explain this occurance. Over the 100 years of use, wear patterns emerged on the bricks as they were originally laid. During the process of removing, cleaning, and discarding inferior blocks, the bricks became shuffled. Any two bricks that may have experienced the same wear pattern were no longer laid side by side, causing slight height differences.

While some suggest that more depressions are visible on Main Street, the Contractors and City Officials found that the depressions exist throughout Court and Main respectively. Contractors speculate that the birdbaths may be more apparent on Main street due to the higher traffic levels the original road endured.

It is important to note that the streets have been built as specified by the engineers and there is no question of the roads’ structural integrity. The appearance of the streets is a combination of 100 years of use, history, and character.

Officials were aware that the preservation of the historic streets through the use of 100 year old materials would require a finishing stage. As was planned and announced at the beginning of the project, City Officials and Contractors will survey the roads and mark locations that need repair before the completion of the Brick Streets in November. Every attempt will be made to give a finished product of which the community can be proud.

October 7th, 2010

Work continues on the South side of Main as a portion of the parking is removed.

Crews are prepping 9th street for cement.

October 6th, 2010

Today crews start the removal and replacement of the sidewalk on the south side of Main Street.

The parking area will be removed first. That area will then be poured back with new concrete and matched to the existing brick street.

Then the sidewalk section next to the buildings will be removed and replaced. There will be access to the building at all times. The contractor has bridges he will use to ensure this will happen.


October 4th, 2010

Crews should be laying the bricks this week on north side of Main Street.

Rock is being laid along 9th Street. Crews continue to prep 9th for the next phase.

September 30th, 2010 – Update

Crews are pouring concrete at the corner of 10th and Main and spreading rock on 9th.

September 29th, 2010

The ground on 9th street is being “tilled” today with white rock in preparation for the next stage.

September 27th, 2010

Sidewalk is poured today on the North side of  Court st.

September 24th, 2010

The sun is shining today and 9th street is drying up. Crews are continuing to work on prepping for the sidewalk along the North side of Main st. The corner of 10th and Main is being concentrating on this afternoon.

September 22nd, 2010

Crews have removed the sidewalk on the north side of the 900 block of 9th Street.  They plan to begin grading and getting ready to install gravel this afternoon.

September 21st, 2010

Crews are finishing the brick on the North side of Main Street along the new parking. Rain is predicted for today and the progress on 9th street has almost stopped due to the last couple of days of rain. Once the ground is dry, crews will be able to resume prepping for the concrete base.

September 20th, 2010

Crews are working on placing brick where it meets the new parking in front of Adel TV and Appliance.  Many bricks are being cut so that they will all match up.

September 15th, 2010

Curb and Gutter cement has been poured on Main Street west of 9th Street.

Keep posted to DiscoverAdel.com as more news arrives!

Brick Street meeting

All are invited for a street update meeting today at City Hall at 6:00pm.

This is a regularly scheduled progress update meeting.

Chad

Chad A. Bird
City Administrator
City of Adel
515-993-4525
Fax 515-993-4527
cbird@adeliowa.org

September 3rd, 2010

Work starts today on the North side of Main Street with curb and gutter removal.

  • Phase 1: Curb and gutter removal, sub-drain installation, curb and gutter installation, some minor brick work in front of Adel TV & Appliance.
  • Phase 2: Removal of the sidewalk panels and then replacement of the sidewalk.

Each phase will take about 10 working days (weather pending). Access to buildings will be maintained.

August 30th, 2010

Residents,

Seems like we are in the dog daze of not only summer but of the street project as well. The last two weeks since the Festival has seen much activity in the way of brick removal and storm sewer improvements.

Activity for this week will include:

  • Storm sewer work at 9th and Court
  • Sub-drain installation from Prairie to Court
  • Sub-base installation with modified rock will start this week at Prairie and 9th and progress north.
  • Cross your fingers but we are hoping the Courthouse lights are back on this week also.

No major surprises in this phase of the project other than the horse trough / fountain thing. For those that did not get to see it, here are photos of the mystery object. Can anyone date or identify the object?

Stay tuned for further updates through the week.

Chad

Chad A. Bird
City Administrator
City of Adel
515-993-4525 • Fax 515-993-4527

August 26th, 2010

We have scheduled a street meeting for tomorrow that will be cancelled. We encourage everyone to attend the sustainability workshop which will be held at 5:30pm in the library.

Regarding the street project; work is progressing nicely and on or ahead of schedule. Bases for the light post are in and nearly complete, the brick are almost all up and palletized and storm utility work is up to the intersection with Main St.

Please note that to accommodate the storm utility work on the west corners of the intersection with Main and 9th, the pedestrian portion of the corners will be closed to access beginning August 25th. and lasting for approximately 48 hours – these pedestrian walk ways should be open again by Monday morning. The inconvenience is necessary to dig the required trenches to install the concrete storm intake boxes.

One interesting find this week – while trenching in the utility line for the lights, the contractor came across a large chunk of concrete. Once it was excavated and an attempt at removal was made it was determined that the concrete was a 12’ diameter bowl that either served as a horse drinking trough or an old fountain of some sort. The buried structure was so large that the Caterpillar track hoe on site had a very difficult time removing the thing. There is a reward leading to the identification and aging of the structure if anyone has any information on what it was and when it was in service. The reward is one antique original Adel Street Brick. Please call City Hall with any information at 993-4525.

In the construction meeting yesterday there were no other issues raised by contractors or engineers. Work is progressing nicely.

As always, please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Thanks again for your understanding and cooperation – please contact me for questions and comments.

Chad

Chad A. Bird
City Administrator
City of Adel
515-993-4525 • Fax 515-993-4527

August 25th, 2010

Construction on 9th continues.

The intersections of Prairie, Main and Court are closed to traffic.

Allow an extra 5 minutes to your downtown trips as you support the merchants during this time.

August 23rd, 2010

Crews on 9th Street are continuing to remove, clean and stack bricks today. New intakes have been installed at Prairie and 9th.  Allow an extra 5 minutes to your downtown trips as you support the merchants during this time.

August 20th, 2010

Phase II of the project is under way as the Sweetcorn Festival is now behind us. This phase of the project includes two street blocks of South 9th Street and three intersections (Court, Main, and Prairie Streets). Crews are working fast and one block of brick are already removed. The work flow will generally be in a south to north direction and storm sewer upgrades are already almost complete at 9th and Prairie Streets.

Sidewalk replacement on Main Street west of 9th will begin in the early part of September. The North side of the street will be done first to allow for upgrades and connections to the storm sewer system in that area and to provide for finished connections to 9th and Main storm intakes. Work on the South side of the street will commence around the middle to end of September, or after the work on the North side is completed.