By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — Paving along East State Street’s Walkable Olean III project was completed on Wednesday.
Millennium Construction of Niagara Falls put the finishing touches on the mini-roundabout at East State and Barry streets on Thursday. Some median work remains to be done.
North Barry Street remains closed at East State and Times Square, while South Barry Street is closed at East State and South streets.
East State Street entrances to the Olean Municipal Building remain closed during construction. Times Square is still accessible from the south end of North Barry Street.
The street between the roundabout at State and Union to Clinton Street will be an active work zone.
Traffic was one-way with traffic control devices on either end of the active construction zone as traffic drove around the north end of the mini roundabout.
A concrete finisher, EricToegel of Canandiagua, hung from the bucket of an excavator Thuresay afternoon as he smoothed the last of the concrete in the mini-roundabout.
The $2.7 million Walkable Olean III project stretches from the roundabout at State and Union streets to East Avenue just west of the Olean Creek bridge.
Olean alderman decided last week to ask Millennium that benches along the route face toward the road. Ward 4 Alderman Sonja McCall said she’d received complaints from residents about benches facing their homes.
Millennium Construction has already started working on the $3 million Walkable Olean IV along South Union Street from State Street to Franchot Boulevard.
The Niagara Falls firm began cutting trees, removing old sidewalks and installing 8-foot sidewalks along the east side of South Union Street two weeks ago.
Some residents complained they had not expected to lose their large, mostly maple trees to the project. New trees will be planted as part of the project.
It’s not clear how much work Millennium Construction will be able to complete before shutting down for the winter.
Paving for the project will occur next summer. The city won’t be responsible for those costs, however.
The city scored a win when the New York State Department of Transportation and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office reversed an earlier decision that would have made the city responsible for paving costs associated with Walkable Olean IV.
That will save the city more than $200,000 in paving costs.
