Guilford Redevelopment Project Update: Progress to Date, What's Next

Written by Guilford Economic Development Director Brian McGlone

To Our Guilford Businesses and Residents Surrounding the Whitfield - Water Street Parking Area
Update 2 - April 20, 2016

The Redevelopment Project is WELL Underway!
We appreciate your cooperation and support as we work through this MAJOR project.

Progress To Date:
• Light Post Bases and Conduits - INSTALLED
• Granite Curbing, Sidewalks and Islands - anticipated to be COMPLETE this week or early next week.

Next Major Steps:
To be upfront, this portion of the work will be NOISY and DIRTY. We appreciate your continued patience during this time. Laydon Industries will be GRINDING the existing paved surfaces, performing topographic work, and applying a 2 inch "base" coat of asphalt.
• They expect that half of the lot will be completed between April 25 and April 29.
• The other half of the lot will be completed between May 2 and May 6. (Weather dependent).

PLEASE NOTE:
These areas will be totally CLOSED to both vehicles and pedestrians between the grinding and paving process.

It will not be SAFE for pedestrian traffic until the base coat is applied, and walking would disturb the regrading and topographic work which is required to improve drainage in the total area.

Please advise your customers and employees walking around the site that they will need to rely on the new sidewalks for their safety and convenience.

We continue to request employees and customers to park in the St. George lot for their safety, and to allow Laydon efficient movement through the project.

Looking Ahead:

Next Major Steps:
1. Week of May 9 - Application of top coat-finish pavement. We are working on a plan to best accomplish this step.

2. Striping of parking spaces and directional arrows will be completed a few days after the paving is completed. (The pavement needs a few days to cure before paint can be applied.)

3. Final installation of the light poles and trash containment areas.

When we started this project, our goal was to be completed by Memorial Day. At the moment, we appear to be tracking slightly ahead of schedule and hope to maintain this pace to finish ahead of schedule. Needless to say, bad weather could impact our results, but so far, the weather has cooperated pretty well.

Again, we understand there will be some inconveniences during the project. Overall, things have gone well. We appreciate your cooperation, courtesy and support, and know that the end result will be worth the short term disruptions.

Communication is key to our success and we will do our best to keep you informed as to our progress and next steps. Should you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards,
Brian McGlone
Economic Development Coordinator
Town of Guilford
203-453-8071
mcgloneb@ci.guilford.ct.us