By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The downtown street scape project is taking shape and will be substantially completed within a month, according to Niles City Public Works Director, Neil Coulston.
After a morning meeting with the project's main contractor, Pioneer and Associates, Coulston said the project was on track to be finished quickly, and most of the surprises that have delayed the project are all in he past.
After crews are done pouring the curbs along Main Street on Friday, just in time for the Apple Festival parade, Niles City Electrical and Water department workers will go through setting street lamp bases and adjusting water meters.
Once the electrical and water department workers finish up, brick layers will set to work, installing the brick sidewalks.
After the sidewalks are in place, trash cans, benches, and landscaping still have to be done.
To prevent vehicles from driving over the curbs at corners, bollards will be installed at certain locations. Bollards are metal poles, placed about a foot back from the curb, designed to prevent cars from driving on the sidewalks and thus protecting pedestrians.
Coulston said that the city is still determining how many bollards will be installed and where they will be installed through out downtown.
On Oct. 11, Second Street from Main to Sycamore streets will be torn up to replace the side walk and repave the street.
On Oct. 20, Rieth-Riley Paving of South Bend, Ind., will go through all of downtown to smooth out all the intersections and curbs, including Second Street.
Downtown Development Authority Director, Lisa Croteau can't wait for the construction to be done.
Croteau said that before the project began, there was no flow of scenery coming into downtown.
Croteau hopes that the downtown renovations will not only excite Niles residents, but also visitors to Niles who might not normally stop into town.
Croteau said if she were travelling through town a few years ago, she wouldn't have stopped into town.
The construction workers have played a major role in the downtown renovations Croteau said, not only in doing the actual work, but in doing the work so fast. "They've just done a great job with such a labor intensive project, it's amazing," Croteau said. "It's really just amazing. I think this is going to be something everyone who lives in Niles will be proud of."