Council hears update on Eastern Avenue timeline

Work on the Eastern Avenue project is once again getting back on track.
At the regular Red Oak City Council meeting June 19, the council spoke with Dylan Waschkowski, owner of Bluffs Paving, the contractor for the project.
While work had been slowing down, Waschkowski said things were improving.
“Things are going better now. The phasing changes did cause changes as far as the schedule is concerned. However, we’re now back on track, and I hope to be paving next week. By the end of the month, we should have the street paved,” Waschkowski said.
The curing process will take around four days. Red Oak Mayor Shawnna Silvius said during the curing process, the street will be barricaded, and no one will be able to go down the street or face penalties.
“If something happens and someone attempts to go down the street after it has been barricaded, there would be criminal charges. We understand it’s going to be a huge inconvenience, but once the project is done it’s going to look very nice,” stated Slivus.
The paving, curbs, and cut outs for the driveways will be laid at the same time. While Waschkowski was hopeful all the main line paving could be done in one day, it might be a bit of a stretch.
“Due to how far away the plant is, they might not be able to supply us with enough concrete to get the project done in a 10 or 12 hour day. There may be two days back-to-back where we’re paving, but once we get ready, the paving process will go quickly,” advised Waschkowski. “Even though people won’t be able to drive on the road during the curing process, they will be able to walk on it the next day. That will make it easier for them to get to their houses. But if someone drives on it, that’s going to cost everyone a lot of money if somebody did that.”
Councilperson Brian Bills asked if the original completion date could still be targeted. Waschkowski said the project had no completion date, just working days, and they were already over the working days, but that was not factoring in the delays. Waschkowski said he had a list that would be provided to the council.
“My hope is that by the end of this, we’ll be able to show that we got the project done in the allotted time,” Waschkowski said.
The final phase of the project, which is re-seeding, will be taken care of in the fall. Due to the heat, Waschkowski said summer seeding would not be successful, so everything would be back filled and ready to seed when the company returns to the city in the fall. Waschkowski added he fully intends to have the bulk of the work done by the end of June.