Construction Delays Slow Down Green Park Drivers

Correction: a previous version of this article referred to the construction as a "resurfacing" project. In fact it is a complete reconstruction of Green Park Road. The previous version also singled out one utility company moving lines in the project area, but several utilities needed to be moved.

Delays in a street reconstruction project on Green Park Road started earlier this year are beginning to frustrate some residents.

At the city's board of aldermen meeting Monday, Cedarberry residents Greg Rutherford and Debbie Miller complained about what they saw as the slow pace of work. The construction has kept a portion of Green Park Road near Lin Ville Drive closed for several weeks, limiting Rutherford’s and Miller’s access out of their subdivision.

“It seems to me like there is not much progress being made,” Rutherford said. “The road was closed for four weeks, and I didn’t even see anyone working.”

Green Park City Clerk Zella Pope said Rutherford’s observation was likely due to the fact that progress was halted for several weeks shortly after construction commenced, while crews waited for utility companies to relocate lines in the area.

“When we are at the mercy at the utility companies, our hands are tied,” Pope said.

The Green Park Road reconstruction will eventually stretch all the way to Tesson Ferry Road and will be completed in four phases, of which the Lin Ville Drive portion is first. The $2,159,723 project began on February 2 and is slated to be finished by the end of the year, city officials said.

Pope said that the relocation effort is nearly complete, and work should move much swifter from this point onward. In a report earlier in the meeting, she said new concrete curbs and gutters have been set.

The road reconstruction is one of two major street projects currently underway. The other involves the building of a new bridge on Green Park Road just south of Green Park Industrial Drive.

The bridge project also ran into complications when heavy rain in July repeatedly washed out attempts to install box culverts and other support elements. This $739,596 project began on March 14. Pope said the structure’s concrete “deck” was recently finished with the bridge estimated to be “substantially complete” in two weeks.

“The city is doing everything it can to help speed up the project,” Pope said, adding that the city understands the frustration residents felt. Mayor Tony Konopka added that citizens can visit the city’s website for progress updates on the street projects.