There is no specific time frame for a contractor to conduct work downtown that involves reducing the number of lanes from four to two for a key stretch, a public works officials told the Free Lance this week.
“Because of rain, we don’t really have a time frame specific time frame yet,” engineering official David Rubcic told the Free Lance. “I know they (VSS out of Sacramento) have work in Monterey every year and they may be trying to time it so that it’s more efficient for them to do this and that at the same time.”
Rubcic said if the city gets two to three weeks of good weather, he expects “they’ll be down here.”
Council members in late November approved spending $124,000 on a lane reconfiguration for downtown. The work, to the dismay of some downtown business owners, was initially set to occur during the heart of holiday shopping season.
VSS International is expected to do the slurry seal in a day and then return about two weeks later to restripe the road, Rubcic has said.
The precise timing of the work is weather permitting. Plans call for reducing the downtown’s four lanes to two between Third and Hawkins streets while installing turn pockets at intersections that don’t already have them. Business and city interests had considered other ideas such as a concept—introduced by consultant TJKM in a downtown corridor study—which would have involved diagonally backing vehicles into parking spots.
TJKM submitted the latest layout design, and the city hosted a workshop for residents or businesses wanting information on the project before requesting construction bids.
