Thursday, September 30, 2010 - Dawson Lake was a Good Thing

Good Thursday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today! The end of another month. Today was the original scheduled completion day for the Dawson Road reconstruction project. Now were into extra time. 

Wednesday was a good day for construction. I got to my shop earlier than usual but decided to stay, as there was lots going on. The construction crew had completed the sub base for the road using B material. This gravel like material has a requirement that pieces should be less than 50 mm in size. Yesterday, the crew started laying the A material base for the road on top of this sub base. This gravel like material has a requirement that pieces should be less than 25 mm in size. They only laid part of the final required amount. After the curbs are installed the crew will lay the rest of this base material. It is expected that work on the curbs and sidewalks will be underway by next Wednesday.

Last week I gave you a heads up that the QB2 Ethiopian restaurant would be holding another menu tasting buffet in October. I have just received more information on this event and will give you more details shortly. It will be held Friday, October 15 with a lunch from noon to 2 p.m. and a dinner from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Mark the date on your calendar and I'll get more information to you or you can call the QB2 using the phone number in the directory in the right sidebar.

When I arrived at my shop, Plants For All, on Wednesday morning there was a Guelph Hydro truck in my driveway and two more out on the roadway. They were doing the work on the pole by our driveway that I was telling you about yesterday. They removed the old wooden support brace and connected a supporting guy wire from the pole to the new pole installed on the east side of Dawson Road. This picture will show you the layout and Guelph Hydro working on the project.

During the steady and heavy rains that we experienced on Tuesday, what is affectionately being referred to as a "lake" formed on the northbound lane and shoulder on the east side of Dawson Road. This should not have happened but did because one of the surface drains had not been connected to the storm water system. This is nobody's fault because the original drawings didn't show any of the surface drains. The city, after draining the lake, will locate the surface drain and then the construction crew will connect it to the storm water system. It is a good thing that this happened before the paving and curbs were done because now the problem can be corrected more easily. So, all that heavy rain was a good thing.

During the regular comings and goings from my shop, I have noticed lately that more more drivers are traveling the wrong way on Dawson Road and getting into confrontations with the construction crew. This isn't good for anyone. Everyone wants the job finished as quickly as possible so breaking the law by driving the wrong way will only delay proceedings. Drive northbound only. The project is very near completion and won't be long now.

Today should be another good day for construction and then the weather is expected to get lousy for a couple of days.  So let's get done what we can and get on with it.

I went to an all candidates meeting last night for the position of Mayor in the upcoming municipal election. I know this doesn't sound like a very exciting evening out but if you can make a point of attending or watching or listening to one of these debates you will very quickly be able to make your voting decision on an informed basis. This is good for democracy and good for our city.

Have a great day!

Brian

Plants For All

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - Enough Rain Yet ?

Good Wednesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Yesterday was pretty much a wash out with it raining steadily until about mid afternoon. Driving through the construction site early in the morning provided quite a bumpy ride with potholes and puddles courtesy of the heavy rain. Fortunately, in the early afternoon someone from the construction crew was on site to fill in many of the potholes and to reroute the traffic, by way of moving pylons, to jag around the larger puddles. As of Tuesday evening the road through the construction site is really in pretty good shape. However, slow down, take it easy and watch for holes.

The weather for today should be cloudy, cool and less rain expected. We'll see how this affects construction getting going again.

I mentioned yesterday that Guelph Hydro was on site. As can be seen in this picture, the hydro pole that is installed at the driveway of our shop Plants For All, is reinforced with a large wooden brace attached at an angle to the ground. Plans call to remove that brace prior to landscaping. In order to still offer support to the hydro pole, Guelph Hydro will be installing another pole on the east side of Dawson Road and running support guy wires to the hydro pole by our driveway. The new hydro pole was delivered and is laying on the ground.

With the municipal election scheduled for October 25th, several all candidates meetings are happening around the city and sponsored by different groups. Tonight, I will be attending the all candidates meeting for the position of Mayor. This meeting will be held at Guelph Place Banquet Hall at 492 Michener Road and start at 7 p.m. The meeting is sponsored by the Guelph Mercury newspaper and Conestoga College. If you can't attend the live debate, it will be live streamed at www.guelphmercury.com and broadcast live at 88.3 CJIQ FM, the Conestoga College radio station.

Battle of the Big Boys: Early this morning just after midnight, a transport truck was coming through the construction site going southbound (the wrong way).  It was met face-to-face by a city bus going northbound (the right way). The transport had to back up until it was able to pull over to the side enough to let the city bus proceed. Please, everyone when traveling through the construction site drive northbound only.

It's Wednesday. Halfway through the week. We've had a break courtesy of the weather. Lets get back to it. Make it a good day everyone and we would love to see you on Dawson Road today.

Brian

Plants For All

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - A Little Rain Didn't Stop Them

Good Tuesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Monday started out as a good day for construction and they were going gung ho. When I got to my shop just before 12:30, I couldn't get into my parking lot because a lot of equipment was working on subgrade installation on the southbound lane. I just parked next door at the vacant Hanlie Carton parking lot and moved into my own parking lot later in the afternoon.

At the height of the busyness in front of my shop, Plants For All, all at the same time they were using a large excavating shovel, a large compacting shovel, a bulldozer, steamroller, front end loader and a  long dump truck. I could certainly feel the vibrations through the ground and into our building. The metal  fluorescent light ceiling fixture in our office would rattle from time to time. I am glad that I knew what was going on.

Guelph Hydro had people on site yesterday as well. They still have work to do with removing some of the old poles.

By about midafternoon Monday we were starting to get that drizzling rain that just intensified as the day went on. The crew worked on this upgrade installation and stopped in front of Anna Marie Oliver School of Dance. They stopped a short distance before Shelldale Crescent. However, because of the way the grading looked, I expect they may be  finished the subgrade installation.

By quitting time the rain was getting pretty consistent. Today doesn't look very promising with even more rain expected. There is a lot of water laying around but the subgraded lanes look pretty good. When you come onto Dawson Road today, and enter the construction site area you will be directed by an arrow into the right, northbound lane. Drive slowly and you'll be fine.

Remember that  up on the Edinburgh Road construction project, Edinburgh Road is closed to through traffic from Willow Road to London Road.

It's a wet Tuesday on Dawson Road, so brighten up your day and ours by coming down to do business on Dawson Road today.

Brian

Plants For All

Monday, September 27, 2010 - I Won't Start a Countdown Just Yet

Good Monday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today! Back in May, when I started this blog I thought that today would be the last time I would say that. The scheduled completion date was September 30th, which is this Thursday.  The way it looks now, things should wrap up the week of October 11th.

On Friday the construction crew stopped work in front of Orbis Property Management at 76 Dawson Road. The crew was continuing the installation of the subgrade and the flexible black drain hose in the southbound lane of Dawson Road. This work is in preparation for the installation of the curbs and final road surface. It is expected that this is where work will start today.

You will remember that the week school started, we had some incidences of senseless vandalism on the construction site, causing expensive damage to business property and construction equipment and also resulting in the slowdown of some construction work while repairs were made. In an effort to discourage this activity somewhat, the operators install heavy, black panels over much of the glass on the equipment as can be seen here.

On a more positive note: A local semiweekly paper, Guelph Tribune, distributed last week, their 2010 Readers' Choice Nominations.  This is an attempt to determine which businesses and service providers the paper's readers think offer the best.  Well, I worked my way through all 6 pages, 224 categories and 1,358 nominees and was pleased to find several Dawson Road businesses listed as nominees:

1. Collision Repair - Golden Triangle - 215 Dawson Road
2. Credit Union - Meridian Credit Union - Speedvale & Dawson
3. Dance Studio - Anna Marie Oliver School of Dance - 58 Dawson Road
4. Bakery - Quality Bakery - 86 Dawson Road
5. Day Care - Noel's Children's Centre - 58 Dawson Road
6. Dentist - Dawson Dental - 83 Dawson Road
7. Hardware Store - Rona Cashway - 55 Dawson Road
8. Home Improvement Centre - Rona Cashway - 55 Dawson Rd
9. Mattress Store - Payless Mattress - 86 Dawson Road
10. Movers - Mike the Mover - 62 Dawson Road
11. Pizza - Pizza Pizza - Willow and Dawson
12. Rental Store - Roy-Al Rentals - 74 Dawson Road
13. Roofing - Dave Merkley Roofing
14. Car Dealers - Balkan Auto Sales - 96 Dawson Road
15. Tanning Shop - Palm Beach Mega Tan - Willow and Dawson

You can vote for your favourites by visiting www.guelphtribune.ca and click on the Readers' Choice icon.  Vote before October 1st.  Winners will be published by Guelph Tribune October 26th. I am sure glad to see so many Dawson Road businesses included.

Parking Notice from Guelph Remastered:

Last chance to park on Carden

Posted: 24 Sep 2010 10:27 AM PDT

We’re preparing Carden Street for construction so this weekend will be your last chance to park in front of City Hall as you head to the market or shop downtown.

Next week, Wilson Street lot will offer 2-hour free parking and you can find your way to your favourite shops on foot.

At the start of construction today, Dawson Road is in good shape for your visit. Follow the arrow and pylons to stay in the right lane. As the road seems smoother and more level, more drivers are speeding up and driving too fast.  Please slow down.  There are still construction crew and pedestrians on-site who can do without your vehicle throwing up gravel and dust. Be considerate and save your (or your boss's) vehicle from unnecessary damage.  This picture shows Dawson Road from where the crew stopped Friday and facing north toward Speedvale Ave.  Looking good!

Today being Monday, I will been in my shop, Plants For All at 66 Dawson Road, after 12:30. I would love to see you, so come on down.

Brian 

Plants For All 

Friday, September 24, 2010 - Things Are Moving Quickly Now

Good Friday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Left Click to Enlarge

Yesterday turned out to be a good weather day for construction, which was a nice surprise because it had been predicted to be wet.  The construction crew finished putting in the subgrade in the northbound lane. Then they moved up to the Speedvale Avenue end of Dawson Road and started doing the same thing in the southbound lane. They are ripping out the old subgrade and installing new subgrade B to bring the southbound lane up to the level of the northbound lane. They will continue working on that today. Their progress on this part of the job seems to be moving very quickly. Remember I told you that they would pack this subgrade material down to make a good solid base. This photo shows the tamping attachment connected to the power excavator to do the tamping.

In yesterday's post I expressed a concern about a misplaced bus stop sign. I was pleased to see yesterday that the bus stop sign had been removed from the middle-of-the-road and put back into position on the east side of Dawson Road in front of  Guelph Medical Place.

Left Click to Enlarge

I received the following personal update to the status of the construction project from Charles Groen, On-site Inspector, Pitura Husson Limited: 

• work will continue now on the subgrade installation and installation of the black flexible drain hose
• curbs will be installed the week of October 4. Two types of curb will be used - at the entrances to driveways a straight curb will be used and along the sides of the road a curb and gutter will be installed. This latter will help to drain surface water away and into the storm water system. If all goes well this work should only take a couple of days.
• the first coat of asphalt paving will be laid over the subgrade roadbed. This work should take just a couple of days.
• after a minimum of three days to set, the second final coat of asphalt paving will be laid.
• while the road is being paved, the old utility poles that need to be removed will be worked on. Guelph Hydro has already connected the electrical wires to the new poles.  The other wired utilities that include Rogers Cable, Bell Telephone and Atria need to disconnect their wires from the old utility poles and reconnect the wires to the new utility poles. When complete the old poles will be removed by Guelph Hydro. Hopefully, all of these utilities can be coordinated to have the old poles removed before the landscaping work is done and without delaying the landscaping work being done.
• landscaping work will be completed.

Since the beginning of the Dawson Road reconstruction project, it has been my good fortune to have had access to the expert opinions of Charles Groen, On-site Inspector. Charles has been very patient and explained many of the intricacies of the reconstruction project that I have been able to pass along to you through this blog. Charles works for Pitura Husson Limited which is a design/engineering firm out of Richmond Hill Ontario. Pitura Husson Limited is the city of Guelph's consultant and contract administrators for this project. Throughout this blog I have referenced Charles as a source of updated and accurate information. With the hundreds of pictures that I've taken since April, I didn't have a recognizable picture of Charles, until now.

Left Click to Enlarge

At the start of construction this morning, you will be directed by an arrow and pylons as you enter the construction site to drive in the right northbound lane. During the day the roadway in the southbound lane will be at different height than in the northbound lane. So, for your own safety and that of your vehicle, stay in the lane that you're directed and slow down.

I got a little heads up last night. Due to popular demand, the QB2 Café and Dining will be hosting another menu tasting event in October. If I can get confirmation of the details before the construction project and this blog come to an end, I will certainly pass them along to you. If I don't, give them a call at the phone number in the right sidebar to get the details. It's an event that is not to be missed.

On a personal note, Linda and I attended a Ward 1 all candidates meeting Thursday night, to help us make the right choice for the upcoming municipal election on October 25. It was well attended, very helpful and had a few surprises. Find out when all candidates' meetings are being held in your ward - plan to attend - make an informed decision and vote on October 25. It is important.

Don't forget Rona Cashway's big paint and laminate flooring sale this weekend and it is starting today. Rona Cashway is located at 55 Dawson Road.

Brian

Thursday, September 23, 2010 - Busy, Busy, Busy ..... as long as the weather holds.

Good Thursday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today! Firstly, thanks to Robert for commenting on yesterday's post. I appreciate the feedback. You can review the comments either in the right sidebar or clicking on comments at the bottom of each post.You too are invited to add your comments to the post or comment on a previous comment. 

If you are doing any renovating, Rona Cashway has a big sale on this weekend on paint and laminate flooring.  Buy 2 and get 1 free. Sounds like a good deal if you need that stuff. Rona Cashway is located at 55 Dawson Road, so come on down.

In spite of the big storm Tuesday night, the crew were able to get in a full day's work on Wednesday. I was glad because they were making very good progress on installing the subgrade in the northbound lane. They had quite an assembly line going on Wednesday as you can see by these two photos. The first photo shows a long truck which contains the new subgrade material. The second photo shows more equipment in the line of production including a long flatbed transport with more rolls of the black drain hose. One of the large power excavating shovels removes the old road subgrade and loads it into a line of waiting dump trucks to be trucked away. The new subgrade material is then dumped into the excavated area and leveled by the front-end loader and a bulldozer. Remember, as we mentioned yesterday, flexible black drain hose is installed at the same time beneath where the curb will be. Another large power excavating shovel, fitted with a special vibrating packing attachment, is used to compact the subgrade. These pictures were taken midday Wednesday and you can see that they're working in front of the Guelph Medical Place. On my late night walkabout last evening, I can see that they stopped in front of the Hanlie Carton building.That seems like good progress to me.

I noticed that there is a large pile of topsoil put in front of Rona Cashway.That just screams to me of landscaping.  

We had a progress update Wednesday from Charles Groen, On-site Inspector from Pitura Husson.  It is expected that the curbs will be installed about October 1st.  What remains after that is paving and final landscaping.

While on my late night walkabout, I noticed something that concerned me. The Bus Stop sign, that as of late has been located on the side of the road in front of Guelph Medical Place, was positioned in the middle of the road between the northbound and southbound lanes. I realize that non-construction traffic should not be using the newly subgraded northbound lane but if history has taught us anything, we can't count on traffic to travel where they should.  I doubt that it was intended for patrons awaiting the bus to be standing in the middle of the road. Perhaps, someone of authority can remedy this situation this morning, before there is a problem.

Please remember that Edinburgh Road is closed from Willow Road to London Road and the Bus Number 22 that services Dawson Road has had to make some route changes.  For more information refer back to my post of last Friday, September 17.

We are getting near the end of the Dawson Road reconstruction project.  There are a lot of things going on at the same time on-site.  Please be patient for just a couple more weeks. Drive where you are supposed to and don't drive where you are not supposed to. Leave things alone that don't concern you.  Let the Construction Crew do what they need to do and stay out of the way.  The Crew has been diligent about keeping accesses to Dawson Road businesses open for the entire project and continue to do so. Do your part by following the pylons, slow down and watch for direction from the Crew.

It is safe for you to come down to Dawson Road, and we (the businesses of Dawson Road) would love to see you.

Brian
Plants For All

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - A Lot of 'Little' Things to Consider

Good Wednesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Remember when you are looking at the photos, to left click on the photo to enlarge it, and then use the back arrow on your browser to return to the post.

Tuesday was a very productive day for construction on Dawson Road, although I didn't realize to what extent until I did my walkabout last evening. The crew from Bel-Air Construction started installing the black drain hose as shown in the picture here. This work is done just before the curbs are installed and the hose is buried underneath where the curbs will be. This hose is similar to what a farmer will use to drain his fields or a homeowner may use to drain standing water on his property to a dry well. The flexible hose is 7 inches in diameter and is perforated to allow surface water to enter into the hose. The hose is covered with a fine mesh fabric to keep soil from entering . As is shown in the second photo the hose is connected to a cement culvert unit that in turn is connected to the storm water sewer system, and consequently carried away.

The construction crew has been working at the Speedvale end of Dawson Road for most of the week.  Along with the work noted above they were installing the new subgrade in the northbound lane. There are two qualities of subgrade used - the first layer is a coarser level and the second layer is a finer level. This subgrade is then packed down. This subgrade will raise the grade of the road to the proper level and provide the solid base required for the paving.  This photo shows how far they got installing the new subgrade from the Speedvale Ave. end.  With progress going this well it's unfortunate that the next couple of days are predicted to be wet. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

I told and showed you yesterday about filling up the old pipes, that could not be removed from the ground, with cement. The cement truck returned today to finish the fill of cement across from our store Plants For All. All that is left is to fill the hole with soil and make it part of the landscaping finishing touches.

Also on Tuesday the crew removed some of the old construction materials that can be recycled. Shown in the photo here is a pile of corrugated steel culverts that had been flattened earlier and removed on Tuesday.

I installed a new feature in the right hand panel of the blog starting today. Dawson Road Business Contact Info is intended to provide simple contact information to the businesses that opted to be included in this Dawson Road Today blog project. So if you're looking for the phone number of the QB2 Café and Dining or Hardsoft Computer or whoever - here it is. 

I hear a lot of negative comments about construction projects in the city of Guelph, much of it well-founded; so it's nice to pass along a positive and maybe even inspirational expression about the whole subject. This photo was passed along to me via Guelph Remastered and originated from New Life Church on Victoria Road

Have a great day and come on down to Dawson Road Today !

Brian

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Good Tuesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Monday seemed to be an excellent weather day for construction; but there was very little activity on Dawson Road.  There was a small crew working most of the day down at Speedvale Avenue in the Dawson Road intersection. There seemed to be a lot of cement trucks traveling down Dawson Road in that direction today. About midafternoon a cement truck pulled up on the east side of Dawson Road just up and across the road from my shop Plants For All.

Apparently with all of the pipes that they have taken out of the ground and all of the pipes that they have put into the ground, there were still some pipes that could not be removed because it would be too difficult to get at with other existing infrastructure. What they are doing is filling the pipes, that were left in the ground, with cement. This is done for two reasons - firstly to fill the void to provide physical strength and prevent the pipes from collapsing at a future date causing road problems, and secondly to fill the void so as not to provide air and space for the growth of molds and bacteria that could provide health care issues in the future. The first picture shows a cement truck with its chute pointing into a hole in the ground. The second picture is in fact that hole in the ground, where an opening has been cut in the pipe to accept the cement.

Being that I was in my shop all of Monday afternoon, I had the opportunity to observe what was going on on the street.  With all of the different factors and people that go into a major reconstruction project like this, I would like to send kudos to the pedestrians that navigate Dawson Road on foot. Just in the course of one afternoon I noticed that many of the pedestrians were at or approaching senior's status. I expected that many of them were heading to and from the Guelph Medical Place. They have to contend with the construction traffic going one-way and the civilian traffic going the other way and all of the dust that is thrown up by all the traffic. The road surface being very rough and uneven, provided some walking challenges. So kudos to the pedestrians who safely navigate Dawson Road during this reconstruction project.

I received a very kind e-mail from Kathy last evening. She also had a very good dining experience at QB2 Café and Dining in the plaza at 86 Dawson Road.  This, of course, is the restaurant that is serving Ethiopian cuisine, of which I've spoken many times. She was asking me for the phone number so that she could follow up with Lamos and Koky, owners of the QB2 Café and Dining. Being a new restaurant, they are not listed yet. So the phone number for the restaurant is 519-546-8811. Give them a call to check their hours and perhaps talk to them about a special family dinner.

Completely aside from reconstruction, I took a break from preparing this post last night to go outside and cast my eyes skyward to have a look at Jupiter.  Right now Jupiter is the closest it will be to Earth at 367,000,000 miles or 592,000,000 km. It will not be this close again until 2022.  I took this photo while I was out there. Jupiter is the blue dot on the left and the bright light on the right is the moon. I know it's not construction news but it did happen on Dawson Road Today.

Well, we had a bit of variety in today's post. I do enjoy receiving your feedback whether by e-mails, comments on the post, by telephone or in personal conversation. It's good to hear from you. Get up, get out and make something happen on Dawson Road Today!

Brian

Monday, September 20, 2010 - Time to Do Business on Dawson Road

Good Monday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

The last weekend of the summer of 2010 is now behind us. The weather turned out better than was predicted, so I hope you were able to take advantage of it. The construction crew ended last week on Friday working on the storm sewer hookups down by Rona Cashway. At the start of work this morning the weather will be cool but sunny and Dawson Road is wide open for your traffic. This photo shows Dawson Road at the start of construction this morning. The road surface is rough so take it easy and follow the pylons on your trip from Shelldale to Speedvale Avenue. The heavy dust that we were experiencing late last week seems to have been settled at least for the time being by the rain we had late Saturday afternoon.

On my walkabout last evening it was apparent that the underground utility locator crew was on site over the weekend repainting the ground with the location of the services underneath. There were also wooden stakes installed on the property lines. Some of these markings and stakes are shown in this photo. With most of the underground work now complete the construction project will turn to site cleanup and preparation for curb installation, road surfacing and boulevard landscaping.

The City of Guelph issued two Guelph Remastered notices late last week that affect our area:

London Rd. CLOSED at Edinburgh

Posted: 16 Sep 2010 01:08 PM PDT

Sept 18 to mid-October
Work on underground water and sewers requires a 3-week road closure on London Road. This work is part of the road reconstruction taking place on Edinburgh Road between Speedvale Avenue and London Road.

Steer clear.
Use Paisley Road to Silvercreek Parkway to Willow Road.

 This means that Edinburgh Road will be closed from Willow Road to London Road from now until approximately October 12. If you are traveling south on Edinburgh road from Speedvale Avenue, you will be able to turn right onto Willow Road; but you will not be able to proceed through the intersection on to London Road.

The second of the Guelph Remastered notices came from the Transit department regarding changes to the Route 22 bus route caused by the closure mentioned above on Edinburgh Rd.

Transit Route 22 Detour Sept 18

Posted: 16 Sep 2010 01:40 PM PDT

Sept 18 to mid-October
Guelph Transit Route 22 Conestoga will be altered to avoid construction at the intersection of  London Rd. and Edinburgh Rd.

Outbound: PaisleyRd. to  Alma St. to  Willow Rd. to Dawson Rd. to regular route

Inbound: South on Silvercreek Pkwy. to Speedvale Ave.  to Woolwich St. to WyndhamSt.
(note: September 22 Woolwich St. will be closed, follow Norfolk St. to Suffolk St. )

For regular route information and schedules visit guelphtransit.ca

In the next few days, we will be entering into the final stages of the Dawson Road reconstruction project.If you have been putting off your business and shopping trips to Dawson Road till the end of construction, you can schedule them now. The businesses of Dawson Road are open and need your business now. So, come on down to Dawson Road Today!

Today being Monday, I will be in the shop, Plants For All, after 12:30 and I would love to see you.

Brian

Friday, September 17, 2010 - A Washout!

Good Friday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today! 

Yesterday was pretty much a wash out both weatherwise and construction wise. The heavy rains in the morning and early afternoon turned the construction zone on Dawson Road into a roadway of potholes. These pictures show the Dawson Road construction area in the early afternoon, a pretty dismal scene. There was no construction work going on; but we did see one of the workers driving a large front-end loader. I don't know for sure, but I think he came on site to level the road out and fill in the potholes to make for smoother traveling.  I was back driving on Dawson Road at about 4 p.m. and thought then that the road had been graded.  Good work and thanks.

Today's weather looks more promising than Thursday. The forecast calls for partly sunny/partly cloudy with cooler temperatures and little chance of rain. At the start of today, expect the road to be rough as many of the potholes have reformed with the additional rain that we had. Go slow and be careful.

An important part of anybody's workday is their coffee and lunch breaks; and the Bel-Air Construction crew on Dawson Road are no different. The on-site catering of coffee and food is provided by Kristy's Catering of Guelph, pictured here. Over the course of construction the workers have commented how important Kristy's Catering is to their workday. Thanks to Kristy's for keeping the project on track. If your company is looking for a mobile catering service or if you have a special event coming up where you would like an on-site coffee and food truck, get in touch with Kristy's Catering. You can get in touch by phoning 519-820-9078 or get more information online by logging into Facebook and enter 'Kristy's Catering' in the search box.

Well it's Friday again and we've managed to stumble through another week. Take some time for yourself and enjoy your weekend. We'll look forward to getting back to a productive week coming up. Talk to Monday.

Brian

Thursday, September 16, 2010 - From Dust Bowl to Job Well Done

Good Thursday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

The construction crew spent most of Wednesday working on connecting concrete storm system pipes in the easement between Brushcuts Professional Pet Grooming and Rona Cashway, that we talked about yesterday. It was a good day for working weatherwise and the crew got that part of the project just about finished. The outlook for today is not nearly as nice with rain expected.

With the recent spell of dry weather, Dawson Road has become very dusty in the construction area. With the steady winds we've had, the movement of the big construction equipment and the drivers who think they have a license to go four-wheeling on Dawson Road, the dust has been flying every which way.  Perhaps some rain will settle the dust down. The sooner we get the pavement down, the better.

The latest construction update released from the City yesterday advises that Carden Street between Wilson and Wyndham will be closed from September 20 till December.  Construction crews will be working on the Market Square Rink/Water Feature Project in front of City Hall. I mention this project because, being in front of City Hall, it will impact on many of our Guelph residents. The picture shown here is the artist rendering of the completed project.  For more information on this project, or any of the Guelph construction projects, go to www.Guelph.ca  and click on the amber-coloured box "Guelph Remastered" and follow the links to the construction project in which you're interested.

Incidentally the price tag on the Dawson Road Reconstruction Project is set at $2.7 million. The City of Guelph's portion is $900,000 with the remaining $1.8 million coming from Federal and Provincial government funding. I would encourage you to come down to Dawson Road to see how your money is being spent and what is being done. 

A couple weeks ago, I told you that Linda from Plants For All was interviewed by a freelance writer regarding the use of artificial plants in outdoor landscaping. That article was published by the Guelph Mercury newspaper on Tuesday, September 14. I have shown that article here. Just left click the image to enlarge it for reading.  Plants For All at 66 Dawson Road is the only retail store in Guelph currently selling UV and Weather Resistant  artificial plants that are designed and manufactured for use inside and/or outside. Come in to our shop to see these innovative plants or get more information now by clicking this link www.plantsforall.goldbook.ca to get to our web page and clicking on the'flyer' tab.

Somebody looking at Dawson Road today, who hasn't been down for a couple of months would think that it doesn't look like it's in very good shape. Nothing could be further from the truth. On our walk-about last night, and knowing what we've seen every day since April 21st, Linda and I were talking about how much really has been done and how things have changed in such a 'short' time.  We can easily visualize some of the impact these changes are going to have on Dawson Road. Come down now and see how things look to you and then come back in about three weeks, and you too will be amazed.

Brian

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - It's a Good Day

Good Wednesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

 

It was a good weather day yesterday for construction. Remember the oval concrete pipes that I showed you a week or so ago, and I didn't know what they were going to be used for. Well, now I do. There is an easement that runs between the Brushcuts Professional Pet Grooming building and Rona Cashway. Within this easement runs a storm sewer system that connected surface water from the Edinburgh Road area over to the open ditch on Dawson Road. The crew is going to use these oval concrete pipes to connect the storm sewer system from the Edinburgh Road area to the new storm sewer system on Dawson Road.  The first picture shows the oval pipes I'm talking about. The  third picture shows some of the new pipes already installed coming from the new storm sewer system in Dawson Road. The second picture shows the concrete storm sewer pipes coming from Edinburgh Road. By the way, I was wrong when I called the concrete pipe shape as oval. I have learned in fact they are elliptical.

Today should be a beautiful weather day for construction and it may just be the last good one this week. I expect the crews will finish this concrete sewer pipe connection today.

Just a reminder, all of the pavement in the construction zone has now been removed. The road surface is very rough and uneven. Drive slowly to protect your vehicle's suspension.

At the start of construction today Speedvale Avenue, where it intersects with Dawson Road, has the two westbound lanes open; but there is only 1 eastbound lane open. The road is clearly marked with pylons, so watch and follow.

It's the middle of the week and it's a good day - get out there and make the best of it.

Brian

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - It is Easy to Visualize Now

Good Tuesday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

After the heavy early morning rains we had yesterday I didn't really expect construction to carry on on Monday; but when I arrived at my shop the crew was working away. The weather had cleared up considerably and was really quite a bright pleasant day after the rain. There was a small crew working on the surface drain connections in front of Brushcuts Professional Pet Grooming at 65 Dawson Rd.

 After all the digging in front of Brushcuts, the crews leveled the road surface and packed it down using a heavy vibrating roller. Working at my desk in my shop Plants For All, across the road, I could feel my building shake as the roller went by. I was a little worried that my Internet connection would be physically interrupted.

The construction equipment that was in front of Rona Cashway at the time of the gas line rupture on Friday, that we talked about on Monday, was idled for most of the day until midafternoon. Then the crews moved to that location and finished filling in the hole around the gas pipe. 

I have tried to show in this picture a cross-section of the roadway and what we'll actually have when construction is complete. At the right of the picture is the centerline of the roadway. Moving left from there, we have a 3.5 metre road lane, then a 1.5 m bike path, 0.5 metre curb, 4 metres of landscape, 1.5 m sidewalk, 1 metre of grass and then a gradual slope to the property line.

 

Remember to left click on the image to enlarge it and use your browser back arrow to get back to the post. The same, but opposite layout will be on the right hand side of the centerline of the roadway. The total width of the right of way to allow for the roadway, curbs, bike lanes, landscaping and sidewalks is 30.5 metres. If you haven't been on Dawson Road in the last couple of weeks, come on down now and you can easily visualize how much bigger the roadway will be. It is certainly taking shape.

On my way back to the shop shortly after nine last night, when driving past Crossfit Guelph at 45 Dawson Rd, I noticed they had the doors wide open to let the fresh, cool, evening air into their facility when they were going through their exercise routines. It's good to see the activity on Dawson Road.

The weather for the next couple of days looks as though it should be good construction weather and good shopping weather - sunny and a little cool. So come on down and see the progress that is being made and do a little Dawson Road shopping.

Brian

Monday, September 13, 2010 - A Week Best Behind Us

Good Monday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today! Today's post marks the 80th post I have made.

I'm glad it's Monday of a new week because last week is a week best behind us:

1. with last Monday being Labor Day it left us with a short work week and that is never good for productivity
2. for the most part of last week it was below seasonal temperatures and very wet, making it miserable for construction
3. early last week the site was plagued with senseless vandalism which wasted a lot of money and time
4. last Friday morning saw an emergency with a natural gas pipeline break on-site.

I'm glad it's Monday of a new week because last week is a week best behind us!

I don't like to start the post with a bunch of negatives; but that's the way it was and now we have an opportunity to turn it around. A bright spot last Friday was when a person was negotiating Dawson Road on an electric wheelchair. There was a long line of traffic behind the wheelchair but all the drivers were calm and patient, not rushing the operator of the wheelchair. All of the old paved surface has now been removed and the transportation lane on Dawson Road will not be as smooth for the next short while.

Midmorning of last Friday saw an emergency situation when the construction crew hit a buried gas line with one of the large excavator machines on Dawson Road between Rona Cashway and Noel's Children Centre. Traffic to this section of Dawson Road was immediately stopped. Witnesses report seeing 'clouds' of natural gas coming from the hole in the ground. Because the wind had blown the natural gas directly towards Noel's Children Centre, the children and staff of the Centre were evacuated to Sheldale school. From there the staff phoned the parents of the children and arranged for the children to be picked up. During the time it took for the repair of the natural gas pipeline, traffic on Dawson Road was restricted to patients only on their way to Guelph Medical Place. The emergency plans that were in place to deal with an emergency of this type seemed to have worked well. I have not been advised of any injuries. The crew was not able to resume work at the site because Union gas was still on site even late in the day. The first picture at the right shows where the gas line break occurred in front of Rona Cashway. The second picture shows the hole which was being excavated and the repaired natural gas pipe. The third picture shows a close-up of the repaired natural gas pipe. It is expected that at the start of work today, the construction crew will resume work at this site.

When you come onto Dawson Road this morning and as you enter the construction site area you'll be directed left by one of the orange and black arrows. Drive slowly because the road is rough. Follow the lanes created by the pylons and you'll make out just fine.

Weather will be better this week than last for construction although we are expecting some rain mid week and temperatures to be slightly cool. Lets get this week off to a better start for construction progress and for business on Dawson Road today. Come on down.

Brian

Friday, September 10, 2010 - Will It Ever Warm Up?

Good Friday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!  Yes, it's Friday already - the one advantage to having a Monday holiday.

The construction crew continued on Thursday with the installation and connection of the surface drains.  As you enter the construction zone coming northbound on Dawson Road from Willow Road, you will be directed by an orange and black arrow sign to move into the left lane. This is because the construction crew is working in the northbound lane on those surface drains. You will be driving on a gravel road surface which up till now has been exclusively construction lane. For your own sake, please drive slowly and carefully because the roadway is not as smooth nor as flat as was the northbound paved lane.

As the crew is almost finished with the surface drain installation, they have had to remove the old asphalt paving of the northbound lane. This short video, taken by Linda from Plants For All, shows the crew removing some of the old pavement and loading it into a dump truck for removal from the site. This work was taking place on Dawson Road between Plants For All and Brushcuts Professional Pet Grooming.

You may recall that early in the week I mentioned in my post that the city had experienced vandalism and robberies over the long weekend. I have now learned that the vandalism extended to part of Dawson Road. Thousands of dollars of damage was done to some construction equipment that had windows smashed out of them and one business sustained broken window damage. Go Glass Mobile Units were on site to repair the broken glass in the construction equipment. This is discouraging to the construction workers who rely on this equipment to make their livelihood. This is frustrating to the business owners who have put so much of their own personal energy and resources into their operations.

It's Friday. Saturday, during the day, is going to be the best weather day in the short-term. It would be a good day for you to come down to Dawson Road, see how this project is moving along and to do a little business with the businesses on Dawson Road.

Have a good weekend and I'll talk to you Monday.

Brian - Plants For All

Thursday, September 9, 2010 - Bring Back the Heat !

Good Thursday morning and welcome back to Dawson Road Today!

Wednesday was cool and cloudy and warm and sunny and rainy and dry. (Am I lying?) I started my day out with a jacket on and had it on and off at least half a dozen times throughout the day. When it  rained it was mostly that cold misty drizzle. Not a pleasant day for anybody. The cool weather is expected to continue through to the weekend.

However, the crew was working all day in front of the Royal City Warehousing where they were installing and connecting surface drains to the main storm drain system and filling in what once was an open ditch. You can see the results of their work at the end of Wednesday in this photo. Remember, you can left click on the image to enlarge the picture and then return to this post by using the back arrow in your browser.

Citizens of Guelph will be going to the polls on October 25 to elect a new municipal government. To this point,there doesn't seem to be a lot of burning issues that are raising much controversy.Perhaps, all of the construction in this city could be/should be an election issue. Stop and think about it and make some decisions based upon that. I would encourage you to go to the city web site at   www.guelph.ca/vote  At this site you can 

1. check to make sure you're on the voting list
2. see who the candidates are for the office of Mayor
3. see who the candidates are in your ward for City Councillors
4. see who the candidates are in your ward for School Board Trustees
5. find out where you vote and when, including advance poll dates and locations

I think the city has done a good job of presenting this information. While I have my opinions from the viewpoint of the construction in the city, I have heard an awful lot of grumbling and complaining while on my rounds. This upcoming municipal election will be an excellent opportunity for you to express how you feel in a meaningful way. Get informed and then get out and vote.

We had a pile of new pipes stacked in front of our shop at Plants For All today, as shown here. Somehow I don't think they will be there very long before they are installed underground.

During the course of my weekly travels driving around the city, I have the opportunity to negotiate most of the construction sites going on in this city. Even with all of the good benefits that we expect in the end, this is a major inconvenience and disruption for everyone involved. I have noticed in recent weeks and particularly in the downtown core that pedestrians seem to take great delight in aggravating motorists by holding up traffic at construction intersections. I realize that pedestrians have the right of way; but please do your part in keeping things moving by quickly crossing the intersection when it is your turn. That's all I'll say.

Kudos to Guelph Transit for keeping the bus on route 22 running regularly during these days of construction.

As the crews are installing the new storm water concrete pipes some old pipes are still being removed. As shown in this photo, the pile is getting bigger.  It will soon be broken down into more manageable chunks and then hauled away to Lafarge to be ground into reusable road surfacing material. Good stuff!

Thursday already. The kids are back at school. Construction continues. Take some time for yourself. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Brian- Plants For All