1st Street poured, safety protocol set

School, city and construction officials all reviewed the status of the 1st Street renovation project Monday, with plans outlined to provide limited walking access to students near school property while the push to complete the south end of the project from the railroad tracks to Park Lane continues.
JEO Consulting hosted an early afternoon meeting Monday at City Hall, moved inside due to an unexpected rain which caused yet another delay in a summer full of weather-related setbacks. Crews finished pouring the west side of 1st Street near the school on Aug. 5, starting the clock on a typical one-week delay to allow the cement to cure before traffic is allowed. With classes set to begin on Thursday, plans for the remainder of the week will be determined by the results of those curing tests.
Testing was scheduled for Tuesday, according to JEO’s Andrew Wilhusen, who explained that samples poured along with the street itself were placed in a curing tank and then are broken to test the concrete’s strength.
“We’ve had some that are breaking really well and then we’ve had some that haven’t broken very well,” Wilhusen said. “We’re optimistic. Typically, you wait until seven days to break them, but you can break them early. We can make an extra cylinder, which is what we did here, so we’re trying to accelerate when we can open the street, but if we break it and it doesn’t meet our strength (requirements), then we have to wait until we do the next one. We would want it to test at 3,000 (pounds per square inch) before we could open up the traffic.”
Mid-Nebraska Land Developers reported that temporary walking access routes are being prepared for use the rest of this week, with expectation that traffic could be allowed as soon as Monday.
“The thought is that if we can get that back-filled this week that presumably Monday we could open up 1st Street from the tracks to the north side of Mark Street,” Wilshusen said. “The biggest thing to keep in mind, I guess, is pedestrian movement.”
With that in mind, he said the plan as of Monday was to finish pouring the southeast corner of 1st and H streets to provide a small crosswalk area. “If we get this poured, then presumably we could have pedestrian movement come down Mark Street, north of a barricade, then just put some crushed concrete or something in that little area to allow pedestrians to get on the sidewalk on the east side and then cross at each street. That’s kind of the hope or the plan, depending on the weather.”
In a report of the day’s meeting, Wilhusen noted that Mid-Nebraska will continue working on sidewalks and driveways on the south side of 1st Street over the next couple of weeks.
“The main priority is to finish the east side of 1st Street from H Street to Park Lane,” he said. “Then (we will) get crosswalk ramps poured to the west side of 1st Street.”
Supt. Jody Phillips attended the afternoon meeting, then updated the 4R Board on the school district’s plan at its evening meeting three hours later.
“If all goes well with the testing of concrete, we will get buses to the back of the elementary school,” Phillips explained. “H Street will be closed past the circle drive entrance, but we will be able to let buses in and exit. As of today, they think they will be all done by Friday, and by Monday 1st Street will be open up to Mark Street from the railroad tracks.”
Phillips explained the contingency plans for students who will be walking to school.
“We will open up the gates on both sides of the stadium for kids to walk to school and home,” he said. “That way they are not near the construction and have a fence to protect them. We will have a crossing guard at 1st and H to walk them across, so the goal is to get them to Mark Street. 
“This will be a touch-and-go project for the next few days,” he concluded in his brief report to the board. “Our arrival and dismissal patterns will go through a pattern of change.”
Construction work is scheduled to stop at the beginning and end of each school day Thursday and Friday.
Temporary speed limit (25 mph) and stop signs will be put up this week, with striping and other finish work to be completed at a later date. Gehring, the contractor pouring the street, is expected to return by approximately Sept. 1 to continue pouring the street toward the north. In the meantime, work to pour sidewalks on both the east and west side of the street will resume as soon as possible as well.