The Town asked me to share an updated warning about construction on Route 85 near downtown.
I had shared last week that a section of Cordaville Road was narrowed down to one lane due to construction through July. This morning, it’s back to two lanes. But that will change tonight (Monday, July 9th) beginning with a detour for overnight work.
Fortunately, the detour is well after rush hour tonight and ending well before commuting hours tomorrow. (8:00 pm to 4:00 am.)
The hub of detour action will be at the traffic lights at the intersection of Routes 85 & Main St. Tonight drivers trying to head south on 85 from the lights, plus northbound drivers on 85 looking to continue north at the lights or head west on Rte 30 should all expect to be rerouted.
Basically, the best course of action is to avoid the intersection. (For a reminder of where the pipe is being laid down, click on map right.)
Public Works announced:
The water main replacement on Route 85 from Route 30 to the new public safety building is beginning overnight on July 9th.
Work is starting at 8pm on Monday the 9th and going through until 4am on Tuesday the 10th.
Traffic heading north on 85 will be able to get to the intersection and head east. [Editor’s Note: Drivers will be able to turn right onto Route 30 – but not left, and probably not straight.]
We will have detours set up to get people around the intersection and get them heading in the right direction.
The work will shift to regular daytime shifts on Wednesday the 11th.
At that point the traffic will be back to alternating one way on Route 85 with police detail controls.
When the water work is through the gas main work will resume.
I asked for some clarity, about the “back to alternating one way”. That surprised me since I had seen detours for southbound drivers last week. DPW Superintendent Karen Galligan explained:
The road will be at an alternating traffic, one lane open configuration on Route 85, with traffic being allowed by police control once we get onto the day shift Wednesday. It was shut for a little bit last Tuesday, but that was a glitch with the details, and was not our intention. It is tough to direct traffic at an intersection like that if you can’t queue vehicles, but that is what we will be doing once we get into day work on Wednesday.
