-
Work on boring under the railroad went on last week and this week as the town works on replacing the water and sewer lines under Everett Street.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The utilities work on Everett Street in downtown Bryson City is progressing as planned, with town officials planning to start notifying businesses that they’ll be switching to the new water lines soon.
Bryson City Town Manager Sam Pattillo said officials from McGill Associates will be working their way across Everett Street and speaking with businesses to connect their service, with the connections scheduled for the early morning hours.
The new water line on Everett Street between Depot and Mitchell streets has been tapped into the existing system as of Monday, Aug. 21. There was pressure testing done, which Pattillo said “went well” and passed inspection. The road closure will be the same for another week. Then, there will be more work done further up the road on Everett Street toward Fontana Road for the rest of the project, with corresponding closures there as well.
Pattillo provided an update on the school bus routes. The school system declined the idea of driving through Everett Street with the construction going on. Instead, buses have been routed on the detours on adjacent streets to get through downtown. In addition, the sheriff’s office has been providing a school resource officer for traffic at Slope Street in the afternoons.
One thing that Pattillo and other town officials said they found amusing was when tourists stop and watch the road work going on. “There’s a lot of spectators—a lot. There were two ladies this morning, just right there. They just get a coffee and watch,” Pattillo said.
Pattillo said there’s going to be lots of road work happening in the next several months. While the town’s portion of Everett Street is slated for completion by mid-September, the town has plans for work on Main Street. That work will involve updating the sidewalks but should not require any full street closures. Pattillo also said utilities work around the library will start in the fall.
NCDOT work in the fall
The town’s utility work on Everett Street has a mid-September deadline ahead of the North Carolina Department of Transportation finishing its intersection improvements project in town.
The project, STIP R-5843, was initially announced in 2017. Intersection improvements at Slope and Bryson Walk were completed earlier this year and the rerouting of the intersection at Depot and Ramseur Streets finished this summer.
The final leg of the project includes improvements the intersections of Everett and Depot and at Bryson Walk and Everett Street.
NCDOT Division 14 Public Information Officer David Uchiyama said by email this week work this fall will continue “in the middle of September” after the Bryson City utilities work. The NCDOT plans to finish by the end of November, he said.
The work will include installing mast-arm poles and a traffic signal at the intersection of Everett and Depot streets, according to Uchiyama. There will also be a pull-off on Everett Street next to the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad train depot (at what used to be Frye Street). The pull-off will include a sidewalk with a monolithic island to separate it from the traffic lane.
While the NCDOT’s upgrades are going on, Uchiyama said there will be no full street closures.
“There will be intermittent lane closures, and traffic will be controlled by flaggers,” he said, adding that the lane closures will vary in duration from “a few minutes to a few hours.” He said drivers should be prepared to watch for flaggers.
The NCDOT also plans to upgrade crosswalks on Everett Street and Depot with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant ramps. The crosswalks will have a decorative brick-stamp pattern added as well.
NCDOT said no existing parking spots should be impacted by this work.