VALPARAISO | Valparaiso Street residents complained Wednesday that they haven't been notified as to when a construction project will block access to their homes.

Reconstruction of the road from Evans Avenue to Albert Street is due to be completed by Dec. 1, and the remaining segment to Herta Street will be completed by June 1.

One resident also told city officials the contractor isn't telling the schools or Fire Department about closures.

Ron Steve, construction project manager with the engineering consultant DLZ, which is monitoring construction for the state, said he faxed the information to the Fire Department and others. He promised to check to make sure he's using the correct phone number. Notification was especially bad with the closing of Glendale Boulevard recently.

Annette Fox, of Grimmer Construction, the general contractor for the project, said, "I'm sorry more residents on Glendale were not notified. Ron did his job, and you could put some of the blame on me. I didn't know we needed to go door to door."

Fox said the contractor went to every address the day after the road closed to inform residents and will try to do that at least 24 hours in advance of any closings in the future.

Mayor Jon Costas spoke to residents about the ban on parking on the street when the project is done, saying it was a decision homeowners made back in the early planning stages. In order to have sidewalks on both sides of the street and a little green space, no room was left to widen the road to allow parking.

After the project is done and the city can see how it is operating, the city's Traffic and Safety Committee will look at whether parking could be allowed on one side, Costas said.

Steve said the project is about 60 percent complete and will be done between Evans and Glendale by Nov. 1. It will take another two weeks to finish the work up to Albert. The regrading and construction of turn lanes at Harrison Boulevard will be done by Dec. 1, he said.

More than 40 residents of the Valparaiso Street area attended the meeting at the Butterfield Pavilion in Fairgrounds Park. Costas said he will meet with them again in about 30 days.

"We could have done a better job of communicating, and we are trying to make up for that now," he said. "At almost $7 million, this is the largest capital project the city has ever undertaken, and we've learned a lot from it."