Drilling begins downtown
Those wondering what a drilling rig was doing on Main Street last week need to look no further than the downtown revitalization project.
Preliminary work on Main Street has begun with core drilling occurring in the downtown area. About 12 core drillings were planned to help engineers better understand layers of sidewalks as well as the street, Main Street McMinnville director Amy Jo Stanford said.
The work is being completed in preparation for engineering drawings for the roadway and sidewalks in conjunction with efforts to realize the massive downtown revitalization project.
The first phase of the project spans from the library on Main Street to near the fire station and includes an area around the courthouse. Stanford said construction is planned to begin in February, 2004. And while it would seem the core drilling was the first tangible step toward construction, not as noticeable survey work began in October and continued for a few months.
“This is one of the preliminary engineering steps. They’re still working on the engineering drawings and they have to have all this information before they can do the final drawings,” Stanford said of the design company EG&G, Inc., adding the information will also have to presented to grant sources for Main Street.
“They’re completing drawings all the time and they’re coming back and meeting with us,” she added, noting a next possible step is to begin determining plans for underground wiring.