C'est fin

Several weeks after the end of the destruction-and-burying-things phase of the Central Street project, reconstruction finally began.

This gigantic machine showed up at the end of the block.

They prepare and pave half the road at a time, guided by an orange string. There was a supply of this bent green rebar every 10 meters or so.

The completed east side.

Our magnolia was the subject of some disagreement between the people who run that giant machine and the city, which wanted to save the mature flowering tree, which is on the approved list for planting next to the street. When they were stretching that orange string on our side, someone painted an orange X on the trunk and wrote "In the way" with an arrow pointing to it in the dirt next to it. This led to a discussion in which the city engineer eventually clarified who made these decisions. The giant machine was diverted around the tree. Maybe the neighbors will replant with some of these.

We imagined this as a reflecting pool for the magnolia for a while.

 

A giant excavator left mid-stroke grading the surface

Eventually, they came back and built forms and poured our bit of the street.

Drilling a hole with a high-pressure water hose to get at something they buried earlier this summer.

All ready for sidewalks and driveways.

Pouring our driveway and the sidewalk. A surprisingly manual process compared to the machine-sculpted street and curb, involving shovels, rakes, long boards dragged across it to level the surface, and the curved edge of the apron sculpted by hand with a trowel.

During all this, the Mustangs were exiled to the street a half block away. The first few days, everybody adhered to the alternate side parking rule, but soon we all just had our parking spots. Could be worse than having two Mustangs in front of your house.

The finished product - almost. A private contractor needs to come and redo the pipes from the city lines to our house, probably in the spring. That goes under the sidewalk and the porch, so we get a neat Goth path in asphalt, which is cheaper to install and remove than concrete. The magnolia finally has what's left of its roots reburied. It's obviously been stressed, including one of its branches being torn off by an excavator. There's been a frost, the remaining leaves are gone, but it's full of flower buds. Many thanks to Glody Onya, the Project Manager, and Travis Derks, Landscape Operations Manager, for preserving our tree. 

Morton has two .23mm pinholes, on the axis and 11mm above, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film was Kodak Gold developed in Cinestill's Powder C41 kit.