Mayor Charles Ryan, right, talks with Republican reporter Peter Goonan
If you happened to pass through the intersection of Oakland and Dickinson Streets in Forest Park early this afternoon, you would have seen a curious sight: standing on the littered western corner across from Family Pizza, up against a tired-looking brick wall emblazoned with a little remediated graffiti was a tight cluster of bulky TV cameras and reporters, thrusting microphones at the ends of their arms, surrounding Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan and Director of the Department of Public Works Al Chwalek.
The press conference was called in order to announce the start of a milestone street resurfacing season, which began noticeably at the start of this week on Oakland Street. Oakland is in a state of occasional complete upheaval at its intersection at Dickinson, what with the active fire station there, the road torn up, a lot of construction vehicles parked in various spots, and the sidewalk curbs temporarily out of commission. In the midst of this, Chwalek and Mayor Ryan spoke to the media. A transcript is below. To get a sense of the commotion, listen to the seven-minute exchange (m4a).
Mayor Charles Ryan: This really is the largest street resurfacing program that the city has ever had in one year. What I’m happy about is it builds upon some very ambitious programs we had in ’04, ’05, and ’06. We’re working hard to come back with the things that are so important to the community—streets, sidewalks, tree plantings, tearing down derelict buildings. But this is a major part of it. This program started April 3; I don’t think anybody else started ahead of us. Oakland Street, like so many of these arterial highways, our main highways, service thousands and thousands of cars a day. They were broken up, they were bad; they really were a sad reflection upon the city’s commitment to our neighborhoods. This is a very, very exciting program. I have Al Chwalek here, who’s been the head of this department for many years. I’d like, Al, if you could tell them how many years, and if you could try and contrast this program with anything you’ve been identified with in the past.
DPW Director Al Chwalek: I’ve been with the department for a little over 30 years. In my experience, this is, by far, the largest road and sidewalk construction program the city has ever undertaken in one year. I think it’s very important that without the mayor, and the work of the control board, and getting that bond money passed, we would never be able to do some 85 streets and 15 miles—
Ryan: Twenty-five miles.
Chwalek: Excuse me, 25 miles. I mean, that’s unheard of, that’s incredible. Major arterials, some 50, 60 residential streets; it’s just a huge program, and again, without the hard work of the mayor and the control board getting that money passed, we’d only be able to do a handful of streets. This is wonderful. This is exactly what the people want, and I’m happy to say that it’s all going to get done this year.
Q: About when do you think the entire project will be completed?
Chwalek: We’re anticipating the middle of November. We’re off to, as the mayor said, a tremendous start. The first week of April, and that’s never happened before. We were able to get some very good prices from our contractors. And we’re able to get started right away, and we’ll get it all cleaned up, and buttoned up, hopefully by Thanksgiving.
Q: How do you think this 25 miles of work will affect driving around the city this summer, with so much construction going on?
Chwalek: Well, clearly there’s going to be times where the motorists are going to have to take some alternate routes. We’ll have all the information available on our Web site. And as always some—the streets are going to be open, we just ask patience. This is important work, so if you’re five minutes late, just please bear with us. This is very, very important work.
Q: Is it multiple companies that are doing this work?
Chwalek: Actually, Palmer Paving won both low bids. So, one company, not the same crew—there’s a number of crews—but it is the same company that’s doing all the paving work.
Ryan: With the exception of Main Street; that bid has not been awarded yet.
Chwalek: That’s correct.
Ryan: The other thing that we should indicate is this: that in these 85 streets, there’s 25 streets on private ways. And the private ways of this city have not been resurfaced in 40 years, until last year, we did about 23 streets. I want to follow that along with 25 this year. Hopefuly, this will become a steady diet. We have well over 100 miles of private ways, where people pay taxes, and they’ve been living with the same broken-up, crumpled tar that was laid 40 and 45 years ago. So this is a huge investment in their neighborhoods, in their streets, to advance the value of their homes, and just the livability in a city. So, as I say, 25 of these streets, and you have the list of them, are identified, and they’re all private ways. If we could do 25 private ways a year for several years, we’re gonna break the back of what was really a disgraceful problem.
DPW Director Al Chwalek, left, talks with Mayor Ryan after the press conference
Q: Is that the plan, to do 25 [a year]?
Ryan: That’s my hope, I’m not going to be here for that long. [Reporter Peter Goonan laughs] I can assure you of that, Mr. Goonan. But that’s my hope, that we’re setting some ground rules now, we’re setting some policies now, that hopefully, the people that run this city in years to come, will live by them. It’s not that hard! I mean, for crying out loud, if you can save some money here, you can spend it over here. The problem is they weren’t saving money. And so, what this is, really, is a payday on effective government. We’re now able to do these kinds of things which are long overdue, and which are, I think, going to contribute to the resurgence of Springfield.
Q: So I understand the money comes from a capital bond?
Ryan: On the private ways, it comes out of our available cash funds, because we can’t use the bond money for private ways. We spent $500,000 last year on the 23 streets. We have $500,000 of the same kind of money in there this year. So it’s a little bit harder to come up with; you can’t spend Chapter 90 money there. But I feel very strongly about the necessity of that kind of a program.
Q: The capital bond is from the state?
Ryan: No, no; the bond is—we floated the bond. We sold the bonds in January of this year: the total of $38 million in the bond; $4 million of it is for highways. And so, of the overall $8 million that we’re spending this year, $4 million is the bond issue, a couple of million is from Chapter 90, and the other couple of million is from the city’s coffers, plus some help from a CDAG grant in the downtown area. It all comes together. I would hope, next year, that we’d be talking at least $3 to $4 million—if we can sustain $3 to $4 million next year, this year is the real shot in the arm, and then in the space of several years, you’re going to have a great infrastructure here.
Q: How does this compare with, say, last year’s funding?
Ryan: Last year, we did about 60—we’ve done 60 streets for each of the last two years, and probably 50 in my first year—as contrasted with the couple of years before me; they were doing three. I mean, this is the comparison. We’re talking three and four streets a year, and we’re doing what we’re doing, and we’re doing it over a prolonged period of time, which really, then, means that in every neighborhood of the city, you can see the consequences of this.
–end transcript
The major arteries undergoing resurfacing this season:
Allen Street
from Harkness Avenue to Bradley Road: 3,980 feet @ $226,020
Allen Street
from Bicentennial Highway to Cooley Street: 3,056 feet @ $169,243
Berkshire Avenue
from Holly Street to RR overpass: 7,000 feet @ $879,525
Oak Street
from State to Walnut Streets: 1,350 feet @ $450,811
Oakland Street
from Belmont Avenue to Allen Street: 3,414 feet @ $300,295
Page Blvd
from Observer Street to Pasco Road: 7,570 feet @ $600,247
Roosevelt Avenue
from Strathmore to Bay Streets: 10,592 feet @ $931,969
Wilbraham Road
from Bradley Road to Parker Street: 7,011 feet @ $471,041
Want to know if your street will be resurfaced this year? Check the residential list. Mine is, I was surprised to learn, and it has the stretch marks to prove it. (The DPW’s version, that is.)
