Neighborhood meeting scheduled for Sept. 21
Engineering staff from the City of Dover’s Community Services will hold a neighborhood meeting about its updated design plans on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Facilities, Grounds and Cemetery office at 145 Court St.
At the meeting, staff from the city and Wright-Pierce, the contracted design consultant, will present its updated project design, including feedback gathered from the first neighborhood meeting on July 16, 2022, and a subsequent online poll.
For more information, contact Community Services at 603-516-6450.
Court Street emergency sewer replacement update
Contractors have replaced the failed sanitary sewer on Court Street; however, work continues to replace a small section of sewer main on Back Road at the intersection with Court Street and Middle Road. This part was added to the project due to its unexpected interference with the force main that runs from the River Street Pump Station to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Work is ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of next week.
To facilitate this work, Back Road will be closed between Samuel Hanson Avenue and Court Street. Traffic will be detoured around the work area.
Once completed, the road will receive a base coat of pavement, which will also require traffic restrictions. A paving date has not yet been set. The old sewer still needs to be filled with concrete, but that is not expected to affect traffic.
This sewer work was deemed urgent and is not tied to the larger reconstruction project for Court Street. To that end, the city put out a bid for emergency sanitary sewer replacement in early April to replace about 1,200 linear feet of sewer pipe, installing the new sewer line above the existing collapsed line, which is 20 feet deep in some areas. That project is scheduled to go out to bid later this year, with work not to commence until next year at the earliest. 2024.
At its May 24, 2023 meeting, the City Council authorized the city to contract with D&C Construction of Weymouth, Massachusetts, to complete the sewer work at a cost not to exceed $202,100. The resolution and supporting information are included with the City Council's agenda materials, available here.
2022 Concept Plans
Engineers created initial concept plans for the Court Street and Union Street project that shown at the 2022 Neighborhood Meeting.
Court Street Option #1: Bicycle lanes without on-street parking
Court Street Option #2: Shared Lane Markings ("Sharrows") with on street-parking
Note: Shared lane markings, or sharrows, are painted in travel lanes where bicycles and cars share the roads. The markings remind motorists to expect to see bicyclists and remind bicyclists where to ride on the road. The placement of the sharrows in the lane keeps cyclists from riding too close to parked cars, where car doors may open unexpectedly.
Union Street Concept
About the Project
The City of Dover has targeted Court Street and Union Street for street reconstruction to upgrade underground utilities and address drainage concerns and roadway/sidewalk conditions. The city has been planning for the project through six-year Capital Improvements Program the City Council adopts each fall.
The reconstruction project will follow the City of Dover's Complete Streets and Traffic Calming Guidelines, including extending Court Street's sidewalk from South Pine Street to Hubbard Road. Engineers will also evaluate the intersection of Back Road/Court Street/Middle Road to identify opportunities to increase motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians' safety.
Survey work began in Summer 2021 and has included geotechnical borings to investigate subsurface conditions within the project area, video inspection of the existing stormwater drain, sewer main and sewer services and creating a base survey. The goal is to have engineer design plans developed through the year with construction to begin in 2023.
Email updates
As the project develops, the City of Dover plans regular email updates to help residents and business plans for the construction disruption. To sign-up for these updates, visit https://bit.ly/dovernewsletters, add “Project update: Court Street and Union Street Reconstruction” to your current email subscription list.
Recent email updates: