After months of nighttime road closures, construction workers have wrapped up most of the underground utility improvements under South Main Street in downtown Smyrna. The upgraded water and sewer lines are in place and the most of the electrical work is complete.
Now workers are moving forward with the aboveground portion of the downtown project – the stuff that people will see after all the work is finished.
“The necessities are taken care of and now we’re on to the visual amenities,” said landscape architect Brian Morgan of KCI Technologies.
Plans include new brick sidewalks and granite curbs, and repaving the surface of South Main Street. Five benches, five trash receptacles and 22 lampposts will be installed, and 19 trees will be planted along the road, Morgan said.
Smyrna Town Manager Dave Hugg said the results of the streetscape work will start to become apparent soon.
“There will be a lot of activity, and I expect you’ll see a huge change in the month of June,” Hugg said.
Last week, workers were installing granite curbs. Soon, they will be putting in brick sidewalks over a concrete base.
South Main Street was recently paved with a temporary layer of asphalt to clean up the road, but the final paving will not take place until the final stages of the streetscape work.
Hugg said all the construction work is supposed to be done by the first week in August. The Town is planning to hold a ribbon-cutting event in mid-August to celebrate the completion of the project.
Hugg estimated the total cost of the streetscape portion of the downtown project at $1 million, with about $800,000 of that cost to be covered by Delaware Department of Transportation funds.
Council awarded the bid for the streetscape portion to Sam’s Construction Co. LLC for $871,825. That bid covers the construction costs, but other factors like engineering costs and contingencies will also factor into the total cost of the project.
Downtown residents express
mixed feelings on construction
As the construction on South Main Street continues, downtown residents and business owners are coping with challenges associated with the construction, while looking forward to the completion of the project and hoping that it will provide a boost for the downtown area.
Melaine Minear, owner of Found Object Studio and the Main Stay Bed and Breakfast on South Main Street, expects the downtown to look lovely once the project is finished.
“I think it’s going to be wonderful when it’s done,” she said.
But in the meantime, the construction has been tough on downtown residents.
Minear expressed concerns about the tremors caused by the construction as workers tore up the road and slammed the sidewalk.
Minear said that when she walks through her building, there are vibrations that weren’t there before the construction.
She’s also noticed a decrease in foot traffic downtown.
“There’s been a serious drop in the number of people, and a lot of people I’ve spoken to say they’ve avoided the whole area,” Minear said.
On a positive note, fewer drivers are speeding as a result of the road construction, she added.
Quentin Schlieder, who lives on South Main Street in the construction area, said he doesn’t object to the noise caused by the construction, but he does object when the construction equipment shakes the historic downtown buildings.
At one point, construction workers caused a lot of shaking by using a big excavator instead of cutting through the surface, Schlieder said. When residents complained about it, they changed their methods to mitigate the shaking, he said.
Schlieder said he’s both excited and disappointed about the downtown work.
He said some things will be much better aesthetically, but he also feels the Town turned a deaf ear to people in the neighborhood. He’s also disappointed elected officials haven’t taken a more active role in preserving the historic nature of downtown.
Rather than having the new brick and granite installed in front of his residence, Schlieder has opted to pay out of his own pocket to have the work done using the original granite curbs and brick.
When the original materials are removed, it hurts the historical integrity of downtown Smyrna and compromises the idea of the area as a historic district, he said.
Looking ahead to the completion of the streetscape work, Schlieder said he’s hoping for the best.
“I hope they finish it quickly, but I understand these things take time,” Schlieder said. “I just hope it’s something people will come to see and appreciate, and hopefully it helps the businesses.”
Businesses open
during construction
The downtown Smyrna streetscape work will encompass the same area as the utility project – the stretch of South Main Street from the Four Corners intersection with Commerce Street to the intersection with South Street. As before, the road will continue to be closed at night for construction, from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. During the day, downtown businesses will remain open.
