Sixth Street could be done a full month early!

Looking west: Utility work done, almost ready for paving

Work on this year's portion of Sixth Street's rebuilding could be completed a month early.

You read that right: A full month!

The newsletter sent this week to Sixth Street merchants offered the good news -- work to replace ancient utility lines, including some wooden water pipes, isn't just going well, it's going very, very quickly. Here's a portion of what the newsletter said:

Work has been completed on the first phase of the utility construction in the 200 through 400 blocks of Historic Sixth Street, and the contractor is ahead of schedule with work in the 500 and 600 blocks. If work continues at the current pace, the project could be completed nearly a month ahead of the July 3rd target for completion.

Sidewalk restoration in the 500 and 600 blocks should be completed this week, and if all goes well, road restoration, paving, and striping will occur after Memorial Day the week of May 26. Barricade removal and cleanup is planned for the first week in June.

John Rooney, City of Racine’s Assistant Commissioner of Public Works could not be more pleased with the progress. “We knew when we bid out the utility work on Sixth Street that it was important to minimize the disruption to property owners and businesses,” said Rooney.

“ I thought the March 3 start date and the two-phase, four-month construction schedule was very aggressive, but Globe Contractors has done an excellent job.”

Work began on schedule March 3, crews were undaunted by the Good Friday snow storm that resulted in nearly a foot of snow, and they went on to complete work through the west side of Park Avenue in phase one. That gave Globe a jump start on phase two work and allowed Park Avenue to open to traffic earlier than anticipated.