4 May. 2006 | The Northville Record

Paving Projects

By Maureen Johnston – Record Staff Writer

By summer's end, Michelle Aniol will have a paved path connecting Beal Town to downtown.

The McKenna Associates senior planner often walks the three blocks from her Yerkes Street home to her office in the Main Street Water Wheel complex.

The city's sidewalk paving plan will put concrete under her feet instead of the grass or roadside she's traversed in the past.

The stretch of Griswold Street from the Beal Street bridge, past Cady Street, up to Main Street is one of the locations targeted for adding a sidewalk. The project is in response to a request from residents in the city's southeast corner. Beal Street bridge re-construction will begin next year.

"Sidewalks were a natural part of it, in keeping with the linking of the whole Beal Town to the downtown," Aniol said

Target locations

Unlike past road construction seasons, motorists traveling around Northville this summer won't be beseiged by barricades and orange barrels.

"To my knowledge, Wayne County isn't planning anything in town either," said Jim Gallogly, director of the city's department of public works. He said a handful of city sidewalk and road paving projects will be completed this summer. Others are in the planning stages.

Safer sidewalks

The city's annual $35,000 sidewalk program budget will pay for Griswold and Horton improvements, Gallogly said. Voters in 1997 approved an indefinite millage to continue to cover sidewalk and road repairs.

"All these improvements are not assessed to homeowners," he said. "The cost for all this is paid through their taxes."

Gallogly said he identifies sidewalk projects based on his own inspections and calls from residents.

"When people call, I'm kind of put on notice that there's a problem," he said. "Primarily that program is for safety and liability."

The city currently does not have any outstanding lawsuits related to people tripping over sidewalks, Gallogly said, and proper maintenance will help keep it that way.

"I've been involved, in my 11 years here, in slip-and-fall cases," he said. "If they settle for $30,000, that's a year's worth of sidewalk repair.

"It behooves the city to have them in good shape."

Future projects

Overall, the city- and county-owned roads in Northville are in pretty good shape, Gallogly said.

City leaders have adopted the conservative approach to "pay as you go," he said, as road repair bonds borrowed in the 1980s and 1990s are paid off.

"We don't like to borrow," he said. "We'll build them as we can afford them."

Rural Hill

Monday night, the city council awarded a $90,000 contract for paving the road looping through the city-owned Rural Hill cemetery.

The council also spent $8,000 to hire a supervisor to oversee the two-week project, grading and asphalting the gravel lane leading back to grave sites.

Main Street

Plans to improve Main Street from Wing to Griswold street this summer were postponed until the completion of the city's strategic plan, Gallogly said, scheduled for presentation to the council in June. Modifications could include adding or subtracting parking stalls, which would affect the amount of landscaping.

"We have a desire to improve Main Street," he said. "I don't know yet what they want."

Horton sidewalk

In addition to the new path along Griswold Street, the city is planning to add a sidewalk on Horton Street from Baseline to Eight Mile Road this summer, Gallogly said. A similar project last year was the city's replacement of about 80 percent of Clement Court sidewalks, he said.

"It needed it because of trees and the roots," Gallogly said. "It's all done. It's safe."

Sidewalk damage most often is caused by "tree heaves," cracks in sidewalks caused by spreading roots, and people driving on them, he said.

"They're not designed to be driven over except at the driveway," Gallogly said. "It's thicker there."

Beal Street Bridge

This summer, contracted engineering firms will take the first steps toward 2007 and 2008 projects rebuilding the Beal Street bridge at the south end of Griswold Street and reconstructing Taft Road from Eight Mile Road north to the Novi city limits.

Grants will pay for 95 percent of the Beal bridge construction next year.

Taft Road

Meanwhile, Gallogly said the city is saving money toward the $1 million Taft Road project, for which the federal government is chipping in $400,000.

"When it does start, it will be a full season, about three months," Gallogly said. The Taft Road project will encompass rebuilding the lanes, new curb and gutter, probably new storm sewers and possibly a roundabout, he said.