April 7th, 2011

All,

It is time to finally paint our parking stripes in the downtown area.

Please be aware of the following general schedule for the paint crews.

Starting Friday morning (April 8th) crews will begin the process to paint all traffic markings. It is anticipated that they will start on Main Street but this may be dependent on the number of vehicles in the area.

Once the process begins crews have been instructed to close no more than two parking sections (city blocks) at a time. Parking area being defined as a city block parking section – one entire side of the street. Once that area is complete and dry another area will be closed and so on.

Painting should take about 3 days to complete. The process will include grinding a portion of the concrete away and filling the ground section with durable epoxy paint.

After the painting is complete we will then move to permanent signage installation – perhaps by the end of next week (April 15th).

On another note, clean up of the Courthouse lawn will be complete by Monday, April 11th. Sod work will begin after the recommended planting date of April 15th.

As always, thank you for your patience.

Chad

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

April 4th, 2011

All,

As our crews continue to work diligently on punch list items many details are being addressed.

The major work task this week will be to address the ‘trench” settling along the north side of Main Street in the 900 block. Work on this area should commence this week with removal of the brick, compaction and concrete work and then replacing the brick. It is anticipated this work will take the majority of the week.

Parking on the north side of Main will be prohibited during the work on this punch list item.

Other items in the works or recently completed include:

All major lighting and electrical work is complete, there is still some minor hand work to complete.

Landscaping plans are under way but must wait for the critical planting date of April 15 to actual begin. Once begun, that work should be completed in short order.

The new street banners are up, new banners with a new look.

All areas of the street and parking remain open. Only spot parking or driving restrictions will be enforced as work progresses.

Street signs and parking zone painting is planned but is also weather dependant. This work should commence around the April 15^th date also.

As always, thank you for your patience.

Chad

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

March 19th, 2011

Residents,

Well, the final brick have been installed and the handicap let downs are complete. The intersection at South 9th and Prairie is permanently open. 9th Street will be open on Monday morning.

City staff and elected officials held a walk through of the project site to create a punch list of repairs and work on that punch list will begin Monday morning. You should notice several different crews working on various aspects and final details in the next week.

Some of the punch list items that should be under way next week:

• Remove and replace any “bad” brick and inlay areas
• Final electrical work – lights
• Minor concrete removal and replace
• Landscaping and fill back of curb
• Drinking fountain installation

Work that is weather dependent and may not start until mid April:

• Final and permanent landscaping including flowers and plants
• Painting and striping of parking areas
• Final sign placement

If you have any questions on items specific to your building or area, please call or email me and we will try to get it addressed in the next couple of weeks.

Our contractor has indicated he would like to be completely done with this project by the end of April – I believe that to be an easily attainable target.

We are on the home stretch.

Thank you for your ongoing patience.

Chad

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

March 14th, 2011

Crews have started laying bricks today along 9th St.

Once 9th is finished, crews will be begin on the final checklist to wrap up the brick street project.

Brick Street Update – 9th St. To Be Finished

March 1st, 2011

Adel Brick Street Project – Start Up!

Now that the sun is shining, we are expecting our brick sub-contractor to be on site this week to begin the process of completing the installation of brick for the project. The contractor will start with the sidewalk and let down areas and proceed as weather permits.

No time table on the street portions yet, but they will not be far behind.

City staff will also be meeting with the contractor and engineer on the project in a couple of weeks to discuss the rest of the final details; signs, street painting, benches, and final clean up are on the list.

If you have any questions about this work process or any other aspect of this Spring’s finish work, please let me know.

Chad

November 28th, 2010

Crews worked through Wednesday on the Main and 9th St. intersection. The intersection is close to being accessible, we will have updates for you once Main is opened.

November 22th, 2010

Crews have laid the brick on 9th up to the Main street intersection. They’re working on the Main street intersection and the surrounding bump outs today. They’re also preparing the sidewalk corners for cement.

November 19th, 2010

Good Morning,

On this bright sunny day, I am happy to report that the intersection of Court Street and 9th Street has opened for traffic as has the first half block of 9th Street south to the Adel Health Mart. There are still a few details to clean up and a little sidewalk left to pour – but the streets are open in this area.

Schedule for today and into next week include continued general clean up of the entire site and installation of storm sewer intakes.

Brick work is continuing south and will be to the intersection of Main Street today. Saturday and Monday work will commence on laying brick in the intersection and transition areas along Main Street. At this time it is likely Main Street will be open in time for Thanksgiving.

Work continues on lighting and wiring – I do not have a date for completion of that work yet.

Be sure to stop in the Health Mart today as not only do they have street access again, they are celebrating their annual open house from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm.

(Please note in this area, traffic will be allowed to move south on 9th Street and should exit the area via the alley. This will provide a “circular” driving pattern in the area and aid in traffic control.)

Have a great week.

Chad

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

November 17th, 2010

Crews are working to finish the bricks on 9th today. The goal is to complete the section from the Court St, intersection to the alley. Thursday is the projected date to open the Court and 9th street intersection with traffic being able to proceed down 9th to the alley . Parking on the West side of the street should also be open.

November 15th, 2010

The 9th and Court street intersection has been finished.

Crews are now working on the 9th and Main street intersection.

November 9th, 2010

Crews worked late Monday night, as they finished up laying the brick on Main St. Both side of Main St. can now be parked on.

Crews are working today on the intersection of 9th and Court St.

November 5th, 2010

Courtesy of Chad Bird, City Administrator
The Brick layers are here and the final work is ready to begin.

The brick sub-contractor has been on site the last couple of days prepping for bricklaying to begin Monday.

The brick work is anticipated to start on Court and 9th and progress generally south.

Critical path areas (intersections, crosswalks, streets) will be done first followed by bump-outs, and inlay areas.

The concrete sub-contractor is expecting to substantially finish his work today or tomorrow and another sub should be in tomorrow, Saturday, to begin the clean-up and street sweeping.

The grading sub-contractor is also on-site today installing the storm intake areas and will be finishing the little hand-work are the intakes as they complete each intake. They will probably also work generally, north to south.

Sadly, the general work area has been the victim of several acts of vandalism the past couple of weeks. This has caused delays as crews have had to repair some of the work. Other parts that were vandalized will be spot repaired and re-assessed in the spring. On behalf of the City, I ask that everyone be on the lookout for suspicious activity downtown, especially during the overnight hours. Needless acts such as this cost all of us time and money.

As always, I can not say enough, how much I appreciate everyone’s cooperation and patience during this project. It has been a long summer but we are nearing completion.

Please continue to keep your comments and questions coming.

Chad A. Bird
City Administrator
City of Adel
Phone: (515) 993-4525
Email: cbird@adeliowa.org

November 2nd, 2010

Brick laying will begin Wednesday, November 3rd along Main and Court Streets. Crews will also start replacing bricks that have been marked for correction.

October 30th, 2010

Friday and Saturday were busy days as the crews worked to get the sidewalk poured and cut on Main St. Front door access to most of the businesses on Main should be returned on Monday.

Prep was also done on the 9th St. sidewalks. Crews are working hard to have a majority of the sidewalks poured and replaced this upcoming week.

October 25th, 2010

They are pouring sidewalk on the south side of Main St today.

October 24th, 2010

Crews worked hard to remove the sidewalk on the south side of Main St. Saturday. Crews will be prepping the street for sidewalk this week.

October 20th, 2010

Residents and Business owners,

As you may have noticed; activity is really picking up now. The concrete contractor is onsite everyday and is pouring some concrete each day.

Work has already begun on sidewalks, starting with the south end of 9th Street. In general, work will progress north to Court Street. Work on the south side of Main Street’s sidewalk will run independent of the other sidewalks – two items that are holding up that removal is the curing time for the parking section and work on a window well in front of Fine Art Photography. Once the concrete has cured, then it will be open for parking and bridges may be installed and work on sidewalk removal can begin. That should happen in the next day or so.

Because of the rapidly changing progress, the crews are making adjustments to pedestrian access almost daily. Please be aware of changes in access routes as you move around the site. They almost certainly will change as new concrete is poured. If you notice unsafe areas or have comments / ideas about better pedestrian routes, please let a foreman or me know, we would be happy to consider the request.

As you know the rain earlier really slowed this project down, (I think we lost about 10 – 14 days due to rain) however the contractors (subs and general) have committed every available resource to keep this project moving and I fully expect them to make up some serious time in the next week. I learned last evening that the brick laying sub-contractor will be on site by November 1st. The brick laying work goes very quickly.

Please note that we have an informational meeting scheduled for tomorrow – Thursday, October 21st at 6:00pm at City Hall.

Chad

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

October 18th, 2010- Update

This Just In…
Concrete is being pours for Main Street parking.

The City of Adel is ready to begin some minor asphalt work, unrelated to the Downtown Streetscape project.

It is anticipated that work will begin on the alley and parking lot just north of City Hall with work then progressing to the alley south of the Public Safety Building.

Parking in the lot north of City Hall will be restricted until work is complete.

We expect the work to be completed by October 23rd.