DANVILLE — Downtown merchants, along with probably many others, breathed a collective sigh of relief when all of Mill Street reopened to traffic this afternoon.
The street was closed from Route 11 to Mahoning Street since July 2 because of the demolition of a condemned and collapsing, three and a half story building.
The sidewalk in front of Doc’s Shoe Sales and Repair is expected to remain closed through Friday.
Danville Code Administrator Jackie Hart said the contractor, Reiff Excavating, of Stevens, removed fences and heavy equipment from the street then washed the surface down.
“When we got the estimate from the contractor, they said it would be two weeks for demolition and clean-up and four days for backfilling and seeding,” she said.
“They are a whole week ahead of schedule. Fortunately there were no rain days. Mother Nature was shining upon them,” Hart said.
She said the contractor was spreading top soil Wednesday and expected to have sidewalk repairs and seeding done by Friday.
The borough is paying for the $95,000 project after a county judge ordered the demolition because the Doc’s building posed a danger to the public.
After the project is complete, the borough will place a lien against the property, owned by Michael Barsh, of Danville.
