You’ve probably noticed by now that Main Street is a bit different.
There’s new pavement, new crosswalks, new sidewalks, new stores. Heck, even the traffic light fixtures got some new bling.
But just how different is Main Street – North Main Street, to be exact – now compared with the way it was before construction began?
We wondered the same thing, and we hit up City Engineer Ed Roberge for all the details. We could have told you ourselves, but that would take way too long and be way less official. For the real, hard numbers, we had to go to the city brass.
When we first reached out to Roberge, we figured – as busy as he is – he would simply get back to us with pure numbers. But we really lucked out; he actually gave us lots of cool details.
In light of that, we decided to publish his answers in question-and-answer format. Who doesn’t love a good Q &A?
How many crosswalks were there before? How many are there now?
Before: 17. After: 14.
What about the width of the street and sidewalks?
Streets: Before: Four 10½-foot lanes. After: Two 15-foot lanes with a 6-foot traversable median (the idea here is one could use a 15-foot lane plus 6-foot median if needed – which in fact matches the previous 21-foot lane area with two lanes! Same functional use wrapped in a nice, safe package.)
Sidewalks: Before: 10 to 12 feet. After: 20 to 30 feet (at bumpouts).
Parking spaces?
Before: North Main Street had 130, South Main Street had 126. After: North Main Street has 112, South Main Street will have 138, for an overall net of minus six. This number does not include side streets.
Parking meters?
Before: 17. After: 24.
Benches?
Before: 14. After: Metal benches: 23; seating blocks: 37; integral granite benches: 17.
Trash cans?
Before: 12. After: 13 trash cans, 12 recycling bins.
New trees/planters/light fixtures?
There are 70 new trees, some 900 various flower variety plants in 38 irrigated raised planters, 63 single-head street lights and 35 double-headed street lights.
Cost of project to date?
About $6 million (60 percent).
How many new businesses opened during work?
InTown Concord reports 10 new businesses opened during project work.
Any mishaps? Things like power outages, water main breaks, drivers going places they shouldn’t?
Power outages: I’m not aware of any power outages due to work – I believe there were two area outages programmed with Unitil during the project.
Water main breaks: There was one famous water main break early in the project, another old hydrant valve that went bad and needed to be replaced.
Rogue drivers/pedestrians: Several folks caught meandering through the work area that were kindly and patiently redirected, and one young driver driving the wrong direction down School Street that happened upon a crosswalk cut readied for concrete that morning.
Will there be any added challenges with snow removal now?
While there is more street furniture downtown now, we believe GSD has a strong plan in place to meet any challenge before them.
Will anything be sort of spruced-up for the holidays?
Cleaning (sprucing up) is under way at this time. InTown has coordinated with GSD to install lighted wreaths on new Main Street light poles (North Main Street area only this year). Installation is to begin (this) week and cheer to be spread following Thanksgiving!
Any tickets or warnings given out?
I just spoke to Concord PD regarding Main Street ticket warnings over the past years. Here’s a tidbit:
From July 1, 2013, to Nov. 30, 2014, the number of warnings given on Main Street was zero. From July 1, 2014, to Nov. 30, 2015, 117 were given out.
As you can see, CPD has done a great job in extending the good grace of supporting a major improvement project in downtown for the people!
