NASHUA – Joe Drift, executive chef and owner of the Saffron Bistro restaurant, has watched and waited for the city’s sidewalk project to reach completion.

Much of the work on the east side of the Main Street Bridge is being done directly in front of Drift’s business. The restaurant typically features outdoor seating in front of the restaurant in the warm months, but that hasn’t been popular as the project has lingered longer than city officials anticipated.

“It’s going to look amazing when it’s done,” Drift said Thursday. “But it does hurt business. People still call and say, ‘Are you open?’?”

Since early July, the city has been working on installing an improved brick and concrete sidewalk design from the Peddler’s Daughter restaurant through Saffron Bistro’s block on Main Street.

Some residents have called Ward 4 Alderman Art Craffey with complaints, Drift said. Craffey represents a portion of the downtown where work is ongoing.

“Some residents are just a little concerned it’s taken a lot of time,” Craffey said. “You do have to walk out in the street there on the eastern side. When all the work was done for the pipes, you can’t park the car there, so it’s a little inconvenient for them right now.”

The Telegraph’s attempts to reach owners at the Peddler’s Daughter and Ward 3 Alderman Diane Sheehan weren’t successful. The work also is being done in front of The Telegraph’s Main Street office.

Public Works Director Lisa Fauteux said Friday the city hopes to have the sidewalk work substantially complete by next week. But residents may be able to start using portions of the walkway as early as this weekend, she said.

Across the street, the city spent three to four weeks revamping the walkway, Fauteux said, under pressure to get everything done for the Nashua Farmers Market season.

The east portion will have taken eight weeks of stop-and-go time, caused by a couple of “surprises” found underneath the sidewalks, Fauteux said.

The city hadn’t opened up the sidewalks in 30 years, Fauteux said, and old plans didn’t outline all of the obstacles they would find.

“We found a very large sewer main that we had to work around right on the Pearson Avenue block,” Fauteux said. “So that took some time. We also consulted some landscape architects and incorporated some of their ideas, so that took a little more time.

“Primarily, we had to look at all the utilities under the sidewalk.”

The good news is, because the city is doing the sidewalk work in-house, the discoveries didn’t require costly change orders, which can occur when the city hires private contractors to do a project, Fauteux said.

“In the cases where we were waiting for utilities and that sort of thing, we were able to take our city forces and work on other projects,” Fauteux said.

On Friday, Fauteux couldn’t say how much the east side of the project would cost or what the department was spending on city labor to do the work.

Mayor Donnalee Lozeau has estimated that the complete sidewalk plan, a two- to three-year project that will refurbish 10 blocks on Main Street, will cost about $2 million, excluding labor and overtime.

But for restaurant owners in the neighborhood, the added time it has taken to finish the project has affected their bottom line, Drift said.

“It’s going to be great, but it’s taking a long time,” Drift said. “I hear people go, ‘No one’s even out there. What are they doing? Is someone on break?’?”

Fauteux said the city has worked “back and forth” on different portions of the eastern strip as a conduit was put in place, utilities were sorted out and the Saffron Bistro block was bumped up because the owners closed their restaurant for two weeks this summer.

The city communicated with merchants throughout the process to allow business to continue as usual, she added.

Still, Drift said it has been more than a week since he returned to open Saffron Bistro, and customers have called asking how to get into the restaurant or avoided dining outside because of the construction.

“I’ve been setting up the patio and people say, ‘This is ridiculous. How can you do this?’?” Drift said. “So people do get mad and they’re looking for someone to blame.”

No matter how long the project takes, however, the finished product will be a vast improvement on what was there, Drift and Craffey said.

The city also installed a new set of granite stairs in the parking lot on Pearson Avenue.

“The sidewalks are unsafe,” Craffey said. “I myself walk and have a hard time. Especially if you walk down the bridge, down by the old Telegraph, it’s like a slalom sometimes.”

Although sidewalk surfaces should be complete next week, residents will continue to see final touches added over the next month, Fauteux said. They include a mast arm, lights on the Main Street Bridge, new trees and benches.

The next target in the city’s sidewalk plan is a section of Water Street, Fauteux said. Residents will see work from Darrell’s Music Hall down to the parking lot by the Riverfront Park, plus some other “quick hit” areas that have substantial hazards, before construction season ends.

Maryalice Gill can be reached at 594-6490 or mgill@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Gill on Twitter (@Telegraph_MAG).