OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Traffic moves through Main and Temple streets in Fredonia, with a historical interpretive sign and cobblestones in the foreground. The sign and cobblestones went in as part of a recent downtown construction project, and the intersection is set to see construction associated with the same project.

Work on Barker Common and downtown streets in Fredonia is set to finish up soon.

Joy Kuebler, the architect overseeing the so-called “downtown place making project” for the village government, updated the Board of Trustees this week.

“Lakeshore (Paving) has the DOT permit in hand” to return to downtown Fredonia, she began. “They have submitted a request for remobilization, which covers traffic control, reinstallation of equipment brought back to the site, the catch basins brought back to the site, their Port-a-Potty and an update in prevailing wage that occurs every July.”

Kuebler said Lakeshore is going to charge an extra $13,351.27 for the remobilization. That’s for two reasons, she said. One is that DOT wants adjustments to three intersections that will result in an additional 300 square feet of concrete demolition and construction. The other is “our unfortunate supply chain issues that are impacting concrete and asphalt materials.”

Kuebler continued, “The DOT… and our office have gone through this with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that the quantities are correct, and their additions for materials are in line with other contractors and materials suppliers in the area.”

Lakeshore Paving could return to work as soon as the end of this week, she added.

“We will have a completed intersection (at Main, Temple and Water streets) which will also include the mill and repair of the entire intersection, going over to the Water Street side,” Kuebler said. The intersection will include pedestrian-friendly “bump outs” that essentially extend the sidewalk into the roads’ shoulders.

An altered, smaller bump out for Park Place was planned, after complaints from nearby business owners that the original one removed too many parking spaces.

The intersection at Water and Main streets has redesigned grading because of M&T Bank’s new handicapped-accessible entrance which included a wall, Kuebler added.

Trustee Jon Espersen wondered if the state permit was the only thing that caused the project’s finishing touches to get delayed until now. Kuebler said it was.

He also sought clarification on the extra $13,351.27 for the project workers’ remobilization. “The way I understand it, if (that) was not used, those are not funds that would go the village, they would be just unused, “ he said. Kuebler said that was correct. In addition, the money would revert to state control.

In response to a question from Trustee Michelle Twichell, Kuebler said workers did not seed grass around the perimeter of the project in the spring because they knew they would return “to make a mess in the fall.” Reseeding will be part of the upcoming work, she assured Twichell.

Mayor Douglas Essek read a letter of concern from AgriAmerica, based on Water Street, which is in its grape processing season. “The 50-plus trucks per day need to navigate that corner. Just wondering how any plans for construction is going to affect large truck traffic,” he read.

Kuebler responded, “The DOT reviewed our traffic safety control plan in depth and did request some additional signs be placed out, and some monitoring for that intersection. The traffic control safety plan has been vetted and approved by the DOT as part of their permit. We would not have been able to get that permit without those changes to that traffic safety control.”