Bradford residents will soon notice a smoother ride while
traveling through the downtown area.

On Monday, crews from the city’s Department of Public Works
began resurfacing Main Street in a two-day project which ends
today. Main Street is one of a handful of city streets that were
slated for repaving under the city’s 2006 street resurfacing
project.

“It’s going great … everything is on schedule,” Department of
Public Works Director Gary Alcock said. “The leveling coat is
completed and the top coat will be done (today).”

Alcock said the street is set to be open for parking sometime
during the late afternoon today. Traffic was allowed to travel on
the first coat of blacktop around 3:30 p.m. Monday.

“That first layer is not as crucial,” Alcock said. “People can
drive on that.”

According to Alcock, “the top coat has to cool down to at least
80 degrees before anybody can park on it.”

“We tried to keep one lane (of traffic) open for anybody that
wanted to get down through there,” Alcock said, adding a majority
of motorists chose to stay off the street altogether. “We had
flagmen in position just in case. People have been pretty decent
about it.”

The last time Main Street was resurfaced was in 1986, according
to Alcock.

Alcock said the “striping” for the road will be put down later
this week and will be done early in the morning as to avoid any
traffic inconveniences.

“We apologize for any inconveniences that people may have,”
Alcock said. “But, I think one or two days of inconvenience will be
made up for with a new road.”

The city’s work on Main Street, coupled with the ongoing
construction associated with the U.S. Route 219 Bradford bypass,
has left travelers trying to find alternate routes around and
through the city.

Crews have been working on the bypass bridges over Main, Elm and
Forman streets for several weeks as part of the $55.4 million
project.

Bradford City Police Chief Roger Sager said “so far everything
is working out” in regards to traffic making its way around the
Main Street project.

“We haven’t had any accidents attributed to it, fortunately,”
Sager said. “It’s certainly causing heavier traffic flows in the
areas around Main Street. People are finding alternative routes
around the work.”

During the course of the paving work, heavier traffic could be
seen on traveling on Boylston Street and near the Davis Street
intersection with Main Street, where Tops Friendly Markets sits,
along with other businesses.

“People are going to have to anticipate delays and have
patience,” Sager said.

In preparation of the paving, city crews worked on milling the
street over the past few weeks, finishing up on Sunday.

The city has also paved the following streets as part of its
resurfacing project: Northgate Drive, Linwood Avenue, Oakwood
Avenue, Congress Place, Belleview Avenue, John Street and Melvin
Avenue.