Central Street Receives Touch-Up

Many commuters, residents, and local businesses were surprised Monday to find much of Central Street, from Eastwood to west of Hartrey, under construction. Large portions of the street had been scraped and grooved in preparation for resurfacing.

Some of the work this year took place on the very same stretches that had seen potholes get filled one year ago, again just before the 4th of July parade.

The work went very quickly and brings a facelift to the pavement in many spots, an especially welcome relief to bicyclists who have been subjected to the bone-jarring series of potholes and patches, and dangerous crevices, that make an obstacle course of the corridor between parked cars and the automobile lane.

Yellow notices dated June 18, warning of the project beginning June 23, could be seen on some businesses along Central this week. However, many area residents and at least one business owner said that they had had no advance warning of the work. Commuters clearly were taken by surprise, as traffic on Central came to a standstill during the rush hour on Monday, backed up from McDaniel all the way to Green Bay, with cars were doing U-turns and peeling off into side streets in order to escape the logjam.

By Tuesday there was more traffic direction in place.

Jobs like this might be less disruptive if done in sections rather than in a 1/2-mile-long stretch of the entire "crown jewel" business district, but presumably the City saves money through the efficiencies of doing it all at once.