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GAPP done for ’04

Greg Mass

The timetable for the Grand Avenue Paving Project in early 2005 likely will be half of earlier estimates, shaving nearly two months off the original schedule.According to GAPP spokesman Tom Newland, the project originally was slated to restart Feb. 2 and end just before Memorial Day. But because the contractor, Concrete Works of Colorado, was able to finish so much work this fall, the project could be done by the beginning of April. Newland said Concrete Works of Colorado plans to come up with an accelerated schedule, then present that schedule to the Glenwood Springs Downtown Development Authority and the Glenwood Springs City Council in the next few weeks to seek their approval. “We’re thinking, ‘Let’s speed this thing up,'” Newland said. The 2005 part of the project will replace the asphalt on Grand Avenue with concrete from the south end of the Grand Avenue Bridge to midway through the 1000 block of Grand. “I’m thinking we’ve got February and March, and we’ll be out of there by the beginning of April,” Newland said. Workers for Concrete Works of Colorado were rolling up their tools and equipment Tuesday – nine days before their deadline of Dec. 2 – and heading over to Montrose to lay down a new runway. As of today, work on GAPP is done until the project resumes in February. “We’re planning to be off the project by the end of the day,” he said. Newland said the first part of the project, which began Sept. 7, went even better than was hoped.”Right now, we’re supposed to have 30 percent of the project done, but now we’re 70 percent done,” Newland said. And although there were a few complaints and suggestions, Newland said he received at least 15 calls from people who complimented the contractor’s speed and efficiency. “Usually people won’t call if a job is going well, so they must have really been happy,” Newland said. He said there were a few times over the past 2 1/2 months when traffic was either slowed considerably or drivers had difficulty getting to the businesses they wanted to enter. But , he said, with a little thought and a few traffic control personnel, they were able to solve those types of problems. “The Van Rand Center and the City Market/Rite Aid areas probably were the most affected, but we went quickly,” Newland said. Monée Harrison, housewares manager at True Value, said she was amazed at how fast the project went and how people found ways to get to True Value. “It slowed us down a little bit, but all-in-all, our customers are so good, they found ways to get in,” she said. “I was just really impressed with Glenwood Springs. They deserve and A+ and GAPP deserves and A+.”Jean Rowe, owner of Grand Avenue Liquors next to Rite Aid, had similar feelings about the project. “The 1 1/2 weeks it was here, business was down a little bit. Other than that, it was fine,” she said.Contact Greg Mass: 945-8515, ext. 511gmasse@postindependent.com


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