LAKEPORT– South Main Street will be closed beginning Oct. 11 next week as a critical piece of a drainage improvement project is installed, making way for future overlay work on the street.
The mid-week road closure will mean that motorists using South Main Street to get to work will need to find an alternate route, according to Lakeport Public Works Director Doug Grider. Starting at 7 p.m. Oct. 11, there will be no through traffic on South Main Street at Campbell Lane. Main Street will be open on both sides of Campbell Lane. Grider said he hopes to have the intersection open some time on Oct. 12.
The closure will accommodate the installation of a double box culvert, part of the city”s drainage improvement project planned for South Main Street. The drainage project will involve putting in curb, gutter and sidewalk between Industrial Drive and Campbell Lane. The city contracted with Granite Construction to put in the reinforced cement structure, which was ordered to the city”s specifications and cast at a remote location.
Grider said the city was waiting for the culverts to go in before starting the Main Street rehabilitation project, which involves digging out rough areas in the pavement and finishing them with an overlay. “We knew this drainage project was coming up, and we didn”t want to spend half a million dollars on overlay just to cut hole in it to put a box culvert in,” Grider said.
Grider estimated that the city is spending between $500,000 and $1 million on the two projects. Funding comes from Measure I, a voter-approved half-cent sales tax for road improvements, and from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund. According to Matt Perry, Lake County”s chief deputy administrative officer, Robinson Rancheria and Konocti Vista Casino pay into the fund.
Some of the funds are returned to government agencies in the county to mitigate the impacts of the casinos.
The overlay project is in design phase, Grider said, and will go out to bid once the phase is complete in about a month.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
