VALPARAISO | Drivers might not be seeing the light at the end of the roundabout construction tunnel, but they should be seeing the lights around it.
Stuart Summers, executive director of the city's Redevelopment Commission, said at Thursday's commission meeting that five of the streets lights that were moved two weeks ago from the South Sturdy Road area to light the roundabout still weren't getting power yet. That problem apparently was corrected Friday.
Summers said the contractor, Walsh and Kelly, expects to complete all but the North Sturdy leg of the project and some of the sidewalk and the landscaping work by the end of the month. That work will be completed in the spring.
Weather permitting, the curb and gutter work on the Lincolnway leg will be completed today, and paving will begin Monday. That takes three days, and the contractor hopes to have it striped, signs installed and the road ready to reopen by Friday.
Preparation for paving is expected to begin on the South Sturdy leg Tuesday, and the road is expected to be open to traffic by Thanksgiving. That will pretty much wrap up things for the year, Summers said.
"North Sturdy to about Chicago Street will not be started until the spring," he said. "It will be functional, but it won't have the drainage, curbs and gutters. People already are using it to access the roundabout."
City Engineering Director David Pilz said drivers appear to be getting acclimated to the roundabout.
"I have received a number of compliments about how it takes so much less time to get through that intersection now," he said.
The extent of the landscaping will depend on whether the city's request for a $400,000 transportation enhancement grant is approved. Summers said the state had requests for funding totaling about 10 times the amount available and a decision was expected by Nov. 1, but no word was received by Friday.
"If we don't get it, we will have grassy medians and lawns," he said. "If we get the grant, we will do tree planting and some sort of pedestal for a gateway feature, which will likely be some form of public art. We will ask the community to donate the art, similar to what Munster has done."
