BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Chunks of Silver Street still are piled on the roadside nearly two months after its reconstruction was scheduled for completion. The whole project has been a mess, City Manager Richard Hayward said.
It was designed to build a storm-sewer system, curbs and gutters, and to flatten the road.
But construction crews didn't know the project would be akin to an archaeological dig. In a city nearly 200 years old, on a road that is one of the oldest, crews found evidence of Lebanon's history.
The oldest piece: a water valve from 1869, Mr. Hayward said.
Workers also found several old water pipes and gas lines under the street that weren't listed on the city's utility charts. Each discovery meant another delay, stretching the six-week project to 3 1/2 months.
The new target for completion is the end of October, although Mr. Hayward cautioned: "I make no promises anymore."
Still, the worst is yet to come. All the problems rebuilding Silver Street serve as a harbinger for a serious headache next summer, when the ambitious $6 million Main Street project is to begin.
Silver Street "is child's play compared to Main Street," Mr. Hayward said.
While the $700,000 Silver Street project covered half a mile, crews are expected to tear up two miles of Main Street, from Glosser Road to the Ohio 48 Bypass.
Rebuilding Main Street likely will take up to a year, City Engineer Barry Conway said. And Main Street is a major artery in Lebanon's transportation system, carrying up to 20,000 cars a day near the bypass.
"These roads have been here forever almost," Mr. Conway said. "When you go to repair them, (the age) creates a lot of problems."
City officials will take with them some of the lessons learned from the Silver Street project, namely that the streets cover unknown treasures and obstacles.
"When you rebuild any kind of street, nobody knows what's underneath it," Mr. Hayward said. "It's a surprise for all of us."
