After rerouting stormwater from the sewer system and replacing gas lines under Primrose Street, the city began to repave the stretch of road from Lancaster Street to Ninth Avenue yesterday, with improvements including raised, concrete sidewalks and granite curbs.
Mayor Melinda E. Barret said to Haverhill City Councilor’s at last night’s meeting, “We know that Primrose Street was a hot-button issue with all the work going on, both under the surface and on top, and we thought we would make an effort to keep the council and the public a little better informed as to what is going to happen.”
With the project set to be complete by mid-September, Public Works Director Robert E. Ward said residents should expect some street closings and detours this summer. He said the bulk of construction, two to three months of building sidewalks, should not be “too intrusive,” with the road smooth enough for travel and one potential lane closing.
After completing pipe work beneath the street two summers ago, Ward said the city scheduled repaving for last summer, but before they could begin, National Grid ripped up the road once again.
“As you know, National Grid has been doing a lot of gas work around the city. I mean, a lot of work. We try to coordinate work with them so that we don’t have to dig up streets twice,” he said. “Primrose Street was, sort of, I guess you could call it a victim of that.”
Ward advised the public they can receive updates on road closings through Everbridge, Haverhill’s emergency alert system.
He said, “When we do send those calls out, what happens is, the database doesn’t have cellphones. It has landlines, so we generally hit about 50% of the people.” He suggested people sign up with their cell numbers or emails, adding that information can be found on the city’s social media.
Workers hit their first obstacle today, with a milling machine breaking down after encountering an unexpectedly thick layer of pavement. Ward said he had no doubt they would fix the machine quickly. He emphasized the complexity of the task.
“The houses are pretty close together. The street can be narrow in a couple sections. The sidewalk is a little non-uniform, I guess we could say… If you walk the street with the engineer, and he points out all that stuff as you walk along, it’s amazing,” Ward said.
The Primrose Street project is the first in a 10-to-12-year plan to separate combined sewage and stormwater pipes throughout the city, Ward told councilors. Though the city no longer built these systems after the 1960s, many remain, according to the city’s website. Usually, both types of water go to the treatment plant, but if there is a particularly heavy storm, overflow has nowhere to go but the river. Though typically only 3-5% of the mix is contaminated, it still poses environmental concerns, according to the city.
Ward said the city would return to the section of Primrose from Lancaster to Winter Street. Temporarily paved last fall, he said they will repave it permanently after replacing its combined piping.
In other news, JR Builders President Larry R. Palmisano asked to delay his special permit hearing to build 24 single family homes off Emma Rose Circle near Broadway last night. It was pushed to June 4. No explanation was given.