If your ride around town seems a little smoother, there's a good reason for it: More city streets have been repaved this year than in recent history.
"Our capital paving budget was $5 million this year compared to $4 million the year before," Director of Public Works Hal Alvord said. "And beyond that, we received $1.9 million in stimulus funds, which we used to repave Martin Luther King Boulevard and a few other streets."
Currently, crews are repaving Ponus Avenue in Broad River and Wilson Avenue and Devil's Garden Road in Rowayton. The latter had become so potholed that the Sound Cyclists were forced to reroute their weekly Friday night ride off that road.
The timing of some of the work, particularly Wilson Avenue, which runs near Rowayton Elementary School, isn't ideal, Alvord said. "We try to do the streets near schools in the summer, but there were some delays beyond anyone's control," he said. "We'll let that project sit for a while and finish it up next week when there are some vacation days."
Don't expect the paving machines to depart after that, however. "We still have a bunch of streets to do," said Alvord, predicting the work will continue until November. "We're doing pretty well in repairing a lot of city roads this year."
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
