BUCYRUS — Work on a project on Plymouth Street in Bucyrus may have halted, but it is not complete yet.
According to Bucyrus City Service Safety Director Jeff Wagner, there is a punch list of corrections and other work to be completed in the spring.
“There are some things that may appear to be a mistake, but are not in this case,” Wagner said.
Mayor Jeff Reser explained a few fire hydrants and telephone poles are in the pathway of the new sidewalks that were created weeks ago.
“There was not enough room in some areas to pour the sidewalk around them. We would only have had about six inches of tree lawn in some places. You can’t mow six inches of grass,” Reser said.
Wagner said Columbia Gas placed a short pipe in the sidewalk area.
“No one has ever seen them place it like that,” Wagner said. “They will be moving it.”
The city partnered with the Ohio Department of Transportation on the project.
“All poles within the project were relocated prior to this project’s beginning. These utility relocations were not associated with this contract,” said Crystal Neelon of the ODOT District 3 Public Information Office in Ashland. “The consultant designer for the project was required to, and met, all ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements during the design process. Therefore, the poles in the sidewalk may not appear to be in the most convenient location, however, they are still within compliance.”
Neelon said that all guide wires (estimated at this point to be two) are scheduled to be relocated in the spring.
“Only one fire hydrant is currently located within the sidewalk, still meeting ADA requirements,” Neelon said. “However, the city is discussing the possibility of relocating this fire hydrant themselves next spring.”
Neelon said a contractor who was selected through ODOT’s bidding process performed work on the project.
“The project is not complete at this point. The contractor will return in the spring to finish the remaining items of corrective work,” Neelon said.
Reser said the work on Plymouth Street needed to be done for a long time and this was an opportunity for the city to partner with ODOT for much of the cost.
“It was supposed to be an 80/20 split with the city only paying 20 percent of the cost. There were things we added so the city is actually paying more than 20 percent,” Reser said.
According to Neelon, the city’s share will be about 27 percent of the total cost.
“Beginning estimates indicated a participation of approximately 27-percent local funding and 73-percent federal and state funding for the project,” Neelon said. “The final cost will not be determined until the completion of the project.”