Five months of construction leaves some frustrated
Staff writer
The end may be worth it, but the four-month means to getting there has tried the patience of residents of North Cedar Street in Marion, closed since mid-March for repairs.
Chet Brown is among those concerned about the lengthy project, not expected to be completed until early or mid-September.
Road crews didn’t leave an opening in the curb for a driveway at his house, the second south of Lawrence Street on the east side of Cedar.
Workers left holes and chunks of concrete bigger than basketballs in front of his and other houses.
“I can’t mow, can’t do anything,” Brown said. “Trees are sprouting.”
He understands the need to resurface the road but thinks the street won’t last once heavy truck traffic resumes.
“It’s definitely worth it, but it should have been concrete,” he said. “It’s a damn sight better than it was.”
Brown didn’t know why the City of Marion didn’t finish and re-open a block at a time instead of waiting for the entire project to finish.
A lot of work remains on blocks where the surface is in place, City Administrator David Mayfield said. Crews have to back-fill the curbs with dirt and plant grass, for example.
Josh Wesner parks in his backyard when weather allows. He is able to reach his house, the second south of Sherman Street on the west side of Cedar, by an alley that runs parallel to Cedar Street.
He parks on a side street near his house when his yard is too muddy to park on.
“It’s just an inconvenience basically,” Wesner said.
Paul and Jeanice Thomas said the City Council may not have considered all of the effects of closing Cedar Street.
Alleys parallel to the street have had more traffic than they were meant to serve.
“I don’t know what we would have done without the alley,” Jeanice Thomas said.
Her main concern is that the council didn’t ask residents how closing the street would affect them, she said.
She thought Cedar between Denver and Lawrence streets — where their house is third from the south on the east side — wasn’t in bad condition.
The Thomases tried to make the best of the street closure and accompanying reduction in traffic.
“This has been such a wonderful, quiet summer,” Jeanice Thomas said.