After falling behind “a little” with construction on Water Street, part one of the two-part project is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“There were a number of small items which resulted in minor delays, and those delays ended up accumulating,” construction project manager Laura Parsons said. “Yes, the project did fall behind schedule a little, but other staff were telling me that we should be pleased that we are wrapping up such a complex project within a few weeks of the projected completion date.”

Still to complete

According to Port Townsend Main Street Program executive director Mari Mullen, crews will spend this week jackhammering manhole covers to uncover them from the paving previously completed, paving driveways, and striping Water Street from City Hall to the ferry terminal – along with striping parking spots and placing permanent signage on Water Street.

Although Mullen said rainy weather caused some of the work to be pushed back from its end-of-June completion date, Parsons said some “unexpected encounters” also caused the delay.

“The concrete highway we removed had rebar throughout it, which was not anticipated,” she explained, noting when samples were taken prior to construction, rebar was not encountered. “We tried to preserve the trees on the north side of Water Street between Taylor and Tyler, but the root damage was more significant than we expected, so we ended up removing all those trees, which was not on the original schedule.”

However, Mullen said “knowing that the project was nearly complete,” the Main Street Program decided to move forward with its Party on the Plaza to celebrate June 30.

“At the event, the mayor noted that the project has re-made Water Street from Taylor Street to the ferry terminal – with new infrastructure, paving, sidewalks, landscaping and pedestrian amenities like the new Tyler Street Plaza,” Mullen said. “Major construction projects are complicated and high-impact for communities, but they are needed to maintain the infrastructure and health of our city.”

Project cost

Although the project fell behind with some bumps in the road, Parsons said the project is still under its budget.

“We are not done yet, but so far, we are not over budget,” she said. “The contractor bid the project at $2,307,785.92. The engineer’s estimate was $2,681,909.40.”

Between the city of Port Townsend, Jefferson County Public Utility District 1 and the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board, a combined $3.37 million has been set aside. 

The Washington State TIB is funding about $690,000, PUD 1 is funding about $260,000 and the city is funding $2.42 million. 

The city’s portion includes a $1 million bond, $940,000 from the water utility fund, $340,000 from the stormwater utility fund and $140,000 from the sewer utility fund.

Part two

Although part one of the project is nearing its end, part two will begin this fall.

“It has always been a two-part process,” Mullen said. 

During part one, the groundwork was put into place to underground the utilities from Taylor Street to the ferry terminal by the PUD.

According to PUD 1 communications manager Will O’Donnell, the PUD has been working “mostly underground.”

“A lot of it is in preparation for the much more visible work we’ll be doing during the fall and winter months: putting the overhead wires underground, connecting businesses to the new service, and taking the power poles down,” O’Donnell said. “The work will be done in several phases.” 

O’Donnell said the first phase will begin in July with pulling wires through conduit and replacing overhead transformers with ground-level cabinets. 

“Though work will be ongoing for many months, interruptions to local businesses, residents and visitors to downtown will be minimal,” he assured. “PUD or contractor vehicles will occupy limited numbers of parking spaces for short times. Work will generally be confined to earlier morning hours. Outages to disconnect overhead service and connect to the new underground service will be performed on a customer-by-customer basis.”

The power lines and transformers are set to be taken down in late spring, with the power poles being the last thing to take down. However, the scheduling of the power poles to come down has yet to be determined.

“The PUD is still negotiating a timeline for asset removal with other entities who use our power poles, like Wave and CenturyLink,” O’Donnell said. “The PUD is also in negotiations with the city of Port Townsend to finalize a timeline for the installation of new streetlights.”

O’Donnell said that until the streetlights are purchased and installed, PUD cannot take down the power poles, as the current streetlights are mounted on them.

“The result is a beautiful new streetscape that will preserve and enhance the downtown historic district for decades to come,” Mullen said. “We are fortunate to have such a vibrant business mix in our town, and we thank our many downtown business owners for their cooperative spirit, weathering the impacts of construction. We hope it will be a very busy, successful year with a brand new Water Street.”