Day 1 Of Milling Main Street Is Going Just Fine, So Far...
After a long anticipation, Beacon has started paving Main Street. The public was alerted via two robo-calls (via the Swift 911 system, sign up here), a City Council Meeting announcement, and flyers the businesses on Main Street were sent.
The process is going in three phases: milling (pounding up the current pavement), paving, and striping (painting the parking spots, crosswalks, etc.) Daytime parking on the street has been prohibited so that the City of Beacon trucks from multiple departments can spread out and tear it up. The City is encouraging residents to use the free municipal lots.
Said one citizen reporter who wishes to remain anonymous but goes by Local Cowboy: “Wow. This is a production. It’s like a musical. All of the trucks are moving in unison.”
Indeed, Day 1 has been a synchronous event to watch, like a Richard Scary book come to life. Trucks from the Water Department and Highway Department (any others? chime in below!) were going back and forth chomping up the street, followed by the trusty little City Of Beacon Street Sweeper/Cleaner to collect the asphalt crumbs. The process stirred up a lot of asphalt dust for those walking around in today’s wind, but it seemed worth it.
No Parking signs indicate a shorter milling schedule than what the City of Beacon announced. Time will tell what end date is true!
Business owners wondered about how delivery trucks would get around. According to JB Said, co-owner of Key Food Beacon who hosts some of the most trucks in town: “So far, we have had no issues. We’ll see how Tuesday goes.”
The UPS Guy was hopping around as usual, in between moving street detours to accommodate where the machines were at that moment.
The City of Beacon projected that this would take a week, but the no-parking signs hung on the street indicate different dates.
After milling comes paving. After paving comes striping, where the parking spots and crosswalk lines will be added. During Monday’s 4/25/2022 City Council Workshop Meeting, the Presentation of the Main Street Access Committee Advisory Report was heard, in which several intentions about how crosswalks and parking spots were revealed, that were going to be worked into this striping.