The long-awaited reopening of Lincoln Avenue near Fremont High School is expected to happen Sunday night, Aug. 13, city officials said on Thursday.
Justin Zetterman, Fremont’s director of Public Works, said the original hoped-for re-opening date of Aug. 2 was not achievable due to issues with the pavement in the area of the 19th Street intersection with Lincoln Avenue.
The opening of the crucial north-south corridor comes just in time for the start of the 2023-2024 Fremont Public Schools academic year, which is scheduled to begin Monday, Aug. 14.
“There are a couple of things left, some additional work at the 19th Street (intersection with Lincoln) on some sections of the street that were too bad to be milled,” Zetterman said in a telephone interview. “That concrete was poured today and it is a mix that sets fast. All the barricades will be down and it will be ready and open by Sunday night.”
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The Lincoln Avenue closure over the past several weeks is due to a sewer line repair project being done from 16th Street to 22nd Street. The highly-traveled route was supposed to be open by Aug. 1 or Aug. 2, but wet weather and the milling issue hindered progress, Zetterman added.
“They are replacing sewer mains from basically 22nd Street to 16th Street. Later this summer or fall, we’ll be milling (Lincoln Avenue) and re-asphalting the street. They are thinking mid-September (for that),” Zetterman said in a July interview about a second Lincoln Avenue project.
Bell Street viaduct/bridge work delayed by rains
Work on the critical south Fremont overpass, the Bell Street viaduct/bridge, was delayed due to rainy weather over the past several weeks, Zetterman said, but construction is progressing slowly and several aspect of the project should be done within the next month.
“They are still continuing to work on the bridge. They completed pavement patching on the north side, and they are four to five weeks from finishing the north side portion of the support abutments,” Zetterman explained. “Then, they’ll move to the south side of the viaduct and begin the work there.”
The crucial overpass that carries vehicle traffic above and over the numerous Union-Pacific railroad tracks on the very southern edge of the city has been closed since the Tuesday after Memorial Day. The tentative timeline for the project’s completion has long been set at the end of November for a potential reopening.
Zetterman said he and other city officials are hopeful the viaduct/bridge will re-open by the planned date, but he did acknowledge that weather issues will play a factor in that goal being met or not.
“It is kind of going to be dependent on the weather,” Zetterman stressed about the re-opening of the overpass. “We should know in a month or so where we are at with construction. July was wet, and that certainly didn’t help. We are meeting with the construction company in September to discuss progress.”
Project at East Eighth, North Hancock streets on schedule
One of the city’s many pavement rehabilitation projects this summer is currently ongoing at the intersection of East Eighth Street and North Hancock Street where the Towne Square Drive meets the two thoroughfares.
Workers are currently on site daily, and massive chunks of concrete pavement have been broken up and removed as workers get ready to re-pave the west side of the four-way intersection.
Zetterman said those projects often take about two to three weeks from start to finish, and work was progressing well on that intersection.
“They are removing all the (concrete) panels and doing a full reconstruction,” he said. “Most of those intersections (being repaved)…it takes about two weeks to finish it completely.