Work set to start on street project

The project will be done in two steps, starting on East Third Street.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Crews are set to begin work later this month on a major project aimed at easing traffic congestion in the city's East State Street commercial district.
The $1.3 million contract for the job recently was awarded to Kirila Contractors Inc., Brookfield, one of four bidders, said Joe Julian, city service director.
Plans call for widening and extending East Third Street eastward so that it intersects with Roosevelt Avenue.
Another part of the project entails extending Bentley Drive from Roosevelt Avenue east so that it links with Continental Drive.
The work will provide motorists with an alternative way to get to and from the city's commercial district, city officials have said.
Traffic congestion
Right now, East State Street, the main thoroughfare, is often congested, and traffic has increased with the opening this spring of a Wal-Mart on East State Street at Cunningham Road.
The East Third Street project is expected to take some of the traffic pressure off East State.
The city has planned the project for years. But when it was announced in 2002 that it would get under way, residents living along and near Third Street complained.
They said they were concerned that connecting their street with Roosevelt would increase traffic and devalue their homes.
City officials responded that the project will not boost traffic to unsafe levels and that the improvements will increase the value of many homes in the area.
Julian said the project is likely to be done in two phases, with the first being the Third Street extension. That part of the job should be done by mid-November, Julian said.
The rest of the work probably will carry over into 2004, he said.
The city is borrowing the money for the project.