An end in sight for Village roadwork and construction
The restoration of Main Street’s concrete roadway is expected to be complete by the beginning of next week, according to Village officials. A completion date for the milling and paving of Ocean Avenue is also expected soon, most likely the first week of September.
We rely on your support to share good news!
Become a supporting member today.
It’s been the bane of local motorists’ existence all summer long: the continuous road work on Ocean Avenue that has resulted in a long list of offenses for residents and commuters on the well-traveled roadway. From everyday delays and detours to bumpy roads and cement dust reaching cars and even some homes, the complaints stemming from work that began with transmission line repairs in January 2022 and extended into a separate gas line replacement project, may soon be coming to an end.
Northport Village officials announced yesterday on their Facebook page that National Grid/Asplundh has scheduled restoration work on Ocean Avenue beginning August 21 in preparation for new paving that should, according to Village administrator Roland Buzard, be fully finished by the time school begins on September 6.
Work on Main Street, also part of the National Grid gas line replacement project, could be completed by this Saturday, Buzard told the Journal, if the weather cooperates. “Of course, this is construction and it can go a little bit longer,” Buzard said. “Right now, Asplundh is looking to complete Main Street on Saturday, or at the latest, Monday.”
National Grid/Asplundh has been responsible for restoration of the Village’s concrete roadway following the gas line replacement along Main Street. The majority of work, which extended from Church Street to Woodbine Avenue, was originally anticipated by National Grid to be finished by May 2023.
A longer road for Ocean Avenue
In March of this year, PSEG began work to repair the fourth fault found in a transmission line running through Ocean Avenue, “a minuscule imperfection” in the recently replaced cable.
Northport Village had already experienced transmission cable faults in January, March and July of 2022, all resulting in the release of dielectric fluid. The latest cable replacement, which occurred on Ocean Avenue over the summer, ran 900 feet; after the project completion, PSEG detected that it wasn’t working properly and began searching for the issue, which was eventually narrowed down to a 100-foot section of cable. X-ray testing determined that the new cable had a small imperfection, requiring yet another replacement.
That most recent work, according to officials at PSEG, was completed at the end of April, and followed weeks of National Grid work on the same strip of road, as part of the main gas line replacement project simultaneously occurring throughout Northport Village.
National Grid then returned to Ocean Avenue – and never left.
The paving process scheduled to begin on August 21 will have two steps, explained Buzard. First is milling, during which the top two inches of pavement will be removed. Paving will follow a couple of days later, with the addition of up to three inches of pavement. While construction is expected to take five to six working days, weather conditions such as rain could affect the schedule, Buzard said. Temporary or new pavement markings (yellow lines) will then be placed on the road, though the timing for that is not yet certain.
At their last board meeting, Village officials accepted over $365,000 from National Grid for roadway restoration, to cover the paving work on Ocean Avenue. A separate resolution allows for expenditures not to exceed $289,614 for the paving work, which has been contracted out to Posillico Inc.
The Village is asking residents to use alternate routes during the milling and paving process – traffic will be guided to one lane, in an alternating pattern, according to announcements, with Ocean Avenue reopening every day by 3pm.
Why so tedious?
With both the work on Ocean Avenue and Main Street extending long past original deadlines, explanations for the delay point to a combination of factors. While the gas line project was initially delayed by National Grid, residents were assured that the project would be complete before the busy summer season began. Weather conditions also pushed the completion date back, Buzard said, as did the discovery of abandoned pipes when workers broke ground. “When you start opening up the ground and you find pipes where they don’t belong, where they’re not shown on drawings, you have to make adjustments,” Buzard explained.
A difficult recipe: Mimicking Main Street concrete
While residents have expressed their displeasure with the appearance of the newly installed concrete down Main Street, preparation for this kind of work has been years in the making. Buzard explained that test labs have been conducted for the past three years, handling different aggregate and other materials to mimic the current look of the concrete roadway. “We really have been unable to come up with a solution to try to be able to match what’s existing,” he said.
Additionally, the Village must conform to NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements. Buzard explained that they have to “file suit” with the DOT regarding the concrete recipe and ensure that it’s DOT-grade.
Northport officials cataloged the entire Main Street roadway before breaking ground, Buzard said, photographing every 30 feet in order to record the information on what was already there. “There were thousands of small patches and thousands of cracking slabs,” he said; repaving larger sections of roadway with the concrete mixture allowed for the smoothest results.
The final stretch
Work down Main Street is expected to conclude next week, at the latest. This week, National Grid/Asplundh is continuing to restore the concrete roadway and traffic will be redirected in affected areas until 3pm each day. While there will be some odds and ends left to complete, Buzard said, 99.5% of the Main Street work should be finished by Monday.
Buzard explained that throughout this process, there have been many moving parts and unforeseen delays. “The companies involved, including the Village, PSEG, National Grid and Asplundh, we appreciate everyone’s patience,” he said.
As for future construction, the Village is in the process of creating a “Main Street Revitalization” capital project with an appropriation of $2.5 million. Initial project plans include new sidewalks, concrete curbs, light fixtures and meters. There will also be tree removal and the installation of new trees with custom iron tree grates. The project still needs to be engineered and Northport Village Mayor Donna Koch said in a July workshop that the board can “start slowly,” perhaps in spring 2024.
