SUNBURY — Orange barrel season isn’t ending anytime soon in Sunbury.
The 2026 Sunbury Street Improvement Program now has a construction firm behind it, as city council approved a contract with DLZ during their July 1 meeting. The program will improve $1.3 million worth of existing roadways around the city.
With a preconstruction meeting still to take place, City Administrator Daryl Hennessy anticipates construction to start in August and end towards the end of September.
Hennessy highlighted some of the bigger roadways that will see some upgrades: South Vernon Street; the intersection at East Cherry Street and South Morning Street; West Granville Street; and North Miller Drive.
“South Vernon Street gets basically a complete overhaul, a complete replacement of that street, even subgrade improvements,” he said.
Hennessy said there have been challenges with truck traffic at the current 90-degree turn at the East Cherry Street and South Morning Street intersection. The intersection will feature a “mountable curve” to help resolve the issue.
The DLZ contract also references West Granville Street and North Miller Drive for traffic calming.
“The first thing that we want to tackle is the traffic calming improvements along North Miller Drive,” Hennessy said. “That’s mostly going to be striping, we’re adding some turn lanes, some chicanes, as a way to kind of help slow the traffic.”
Hennessy said the city wants to get the North Miller Drive improvements in place before the start of the school year. Big Walnut High School sits at the end of North Miller Drive.
South Vernon Street’s full road replacement is also a priority, but Hennessy said he anticipates that construction to happen towards the end of the work window.
“It just takes a different kind of level of equipment, personnel, that type of thing. So, they’ll tackle the easier-to-manage streets first and then move to South Vernon Street,” he said.
Smaller street improvements in the project
Beyond the project’s focal points, Hennessy said several interior neighborhood roads will get a “mill and fill.”
“It basically takes off the top inch, two inches of asphalt and puts down a new layer,” he said.
The mill and fill roads are: Crowl Drive, Otis Street, Sedgwick Drive, Cemetery Drive and a section of South Old 3C Highway. Crews will also reshape about 40 feet of gutter pan near Mill Stone Court.
