The contractual completion date for the Downtown utility project had
been Saturday, June 4.
But don’t try to cross the Norfolk Southern tracks at Calumet Road anytime
soon.
A rainy May has forced Chesterton Town Engineer Mark O’Dell to grant a
one-week extension to general contractor Rieth-Riley.
The new completion date—weather permitting—Monday, June 13, O’Dell told the
Chesterton Tribune today.
Paving work should begin in a couple of days, O’Dell added.
Things actually could be worse, a heck of a lot worse. On Sunday, Operators
Local 150—representing the crews of excavating sub-contractor R.V. Sutton
Inc.—took a strike vote. “Fortunately for the town, businesses, and
residents, they voted against striking,” Town Manager Bernie Doyle said.
A contingency plan was in place, however, had Local 150 gone to the picket
line, Doyle added. A non-union crew working in conjunction with the Street
Department would have laid gravel, so that at a minimum South Calumet Road
could have been opened to traffic.
Last summer a strike by Teamsters Local 142 bottlenecked roadwork throughout
Northwest Indiana and delayed a number of paving projects here in
Chesterton.