Paving Completed at Mill St Parking Lot

The overhaul and revamping at the Mill Street Parking lot is almost complete and just in time for the outdoor event season.

Paving was completed last week with a new layer added to the lot.

Borough Manager Jim Dillon said on Thursday there is some work still left to be completed, such as the striping of parking spaces, but said he did not have a definitive project completion date as of yet.

Work on the lot started earlier this year.

Amanda Fuller, who works for the borough’s engineering firm Gilmore and Associates told officials curbing was fixed and several Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps are being added to parts of the parking lot.

Work on the storm water system has been ongoing, but the work won’t end the flooding at the lot when heavy and prolonged rain falls. It will improve the flooding problem, borough officials have said repeatedly.

The work done to the lot, said Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe, will improve the flooding problem but it’s never going to go completely away.

The parking lot used to be a water- filled basin for the Delaware Canal in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The area was subsequently filled in 1930’s before becoming a parking lot.

Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source

In 2020 work on Basin Street connecting to the waterfront and Mill Street was completed. A small roadway with the relocation of one utility pole, plus additional safety measures-adding a marked crosswalk- were part of the project.

The project which was paid for through a $1 million dollar Pennsylvania Capital Redevelopment Assistance grant.

Bristol Borough Public Work Crews, in 2021, rebuilt viewing platforms along the Delaware Ware Canal Basin and parking lot.

Borough officials are very focused on addressing infrastructure trouble spots for overhauls and structural improvements.

In February Council awarded a contract G & G Electrical  for upgrades to the parking lot lighting panel. 

Getting the new black top down and finished was the last major part of the overhaul, DiGuiseppe said.

It was really important to all of us to have the work completed before the outdoor event season kicked off he said.

Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source