Charles City Mill Race Parking Project to Take a Little Longer

Construction for the “Mill Race Parking Project” in Charles City will take a little longer than initially anticipated.

The project will close off regular street traffic from the corner of Main Street and Riverside Drive to the corner of Jackson and Clark streets. The change is expected to make the area safer for pedestrians while creating about 70 additional parking spaces.

The original contract gave the contractor, Lodge Construction of Clarksville, 30 working days to complete the main parking lot and have it open to the public. Work began on September 5th, but a couple of rain days that prevented crews from working, would put that 30 days as of Thursday (10.19).

However, City Engineer Brian Sullivan explained at Monday night’s City Council meeting that other unforeseen issues precipitated the need for a change order to add more working days to the contract.

Once the parking lot is completed and re-opened, the original contract also gives Lodge Construction some additional time to finish up other minor work associated with the project.

Once finished, the City will also add a stop sign for southbound traffic on Jackson Street as it intersects with Clark Street. Stop signs have been in place for years at that intersection for westbound and eastbound traffic on Clark Street.