Highland Street section being repaved as part of city project

Motorists may want to avoid the section of Highland Street between Garfield and North Street the next couple of days due to paving work.

Repairs are being made to the street where channels had to be cut across the street and a section along a length of sidewalk had to be dug up several years ago, resulting in some uneven sections in the street.

Lance Phillips, who is overseeing the work, said it will not take more than a few days overall. Phillips said the city has a new 40-inch milling machine that did a good job of cutting the old surface away and texturing the street, which will help it hold asphalt. The machine was purchased to make it possible for city workers to handle smaller repaving jobs, especially since obtaining asphalt contractors has become a problem this year.

The milling was done Wednesday and Phillips said they were about to sweep up the surplus material so people can drive on the street if they need to.

The repair work is part of a $1 million paving project that will see repairs to several short streets. The biggest part of the work, however, will be repaving part of Moss Hill Drive, which carries heavy school traffic as well as residential and some industrial traffic.

Damaged sections of street had been cut away Wednesday.

One of the damaged sections was along the edge of the lane, making driving difficult.