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Road Projects Near Completion

Chester is seeing through the completion of two infrastructure projects, with much of the work on King’s Highway completed and the beginning of the North Main Street reconstruction project on Sept. 30.

Public Works Director Cameron Evangelisti said that the King’s Highway bridge was completed on schedule with “only one crack in the deck,” which had to be fixed by its vendor, Machnik Bros., Inc, as other protections were installed.

“We have the new guardrails up, they put the new head walls up, and they put a temporary pavement on top,” said Evangelisti.

Drainage issues were fixed by Winthrop Construction from Deep River, added Evangelisti, with the installation of more efficient infrastructure for capturing excess water on the bridge.

“We installed double catch basins in two spots; they’re really big catch basins that take twice the amount of water, and they don’t get clogged up as easily with debris,” he said.

Sightlines were also improved by hammering away ledge that was sticking out into the road, according to Evangelisti, which he said makes “the area safer for accidents, for cars not to hit the ledge sticking out on the side of the road.”

The next step for King’s Highway will be reclaiming the road for additional paving, which Evangelisti said will be done by Tilcon. The vendor will pulverize the road and turn it back into gravel instead of milling. Evangelisti said this process is preferable “because we have voids still from the water line” that needed to be tended to before the King’s Highway project began, and to eliminate air gaps that would remain with the milling.

This way, Tilcon “can fix the road and recompact the road evenly,” said Evangelisti. “Also, it’s going to correct drainage. They’re going to re-level the road and make everything go to the catch basins now and shed the water where we want it to go.”

Paving will begin after the pulverization process, with an estimated start date of Oct. 17, weather permitting. Curbing the whole road will take shape to further support drainage, said Evangelisti.

King’s Highway will not be closed down during paving, “but we urge residents to seek alternate routes,” said Evangelisti.

Further road work in Chester began taking shape on Sept. 30 with North Main Street reconstruction, another project in necessary paving will be a major factor.

“The sidewalks need to be redone there, too; they were in disrepair,” said Evangelisti.

The addition of sewer facilities beneath the road will be another aspect of the project, connecting to homes and businesses in the area, said Evangelisti.

Tentative single-lane traffic is currently allowed at the section of reconstruction, while the road may be closed completely based on what kind of work needs to be undisturbed by motorists.

“We do advise residents that if they don’t have to go through there, seek alternative routes,” Evangelisti said.

Work at North Main Street is expected to be completed by the end of the year weather dependent.