At last, work on the highly touted Ajijic highway improvement project is underway.
Bright and early Tuesday, September 19, Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado and an entourage of city hall officials showed up at the southwest corner of Calle Javier Mina for the symbolic kick-off of an upgrade for the borders of the central stretch of asphalt. The “ceremony” took place exactly three weeks after the starting date Degollado had announced at a mid-August meeting with representatives of the expatriate community.
Heavy machinery and a cadre of workers arrived at the scene at 10 p.m. that night to get down to business. A backhoe scooped out a deep trench along the full length of the block, while dump trucks hauled away debris and the manual laborers followed laying down sections of a new PVC sewage pipeline. By dawn the first part of the job was done.
The day crew continued after daylight, installing water supply connections to each adjacent property and covering up the open ditch. That section will be resurfaced for the parking lane, bus stops and loading zone that will run along the south side of the roadway.
The same procedure will be followed on the north side of the block through next week, to be finished with a sidewalk bank and outer bicycle lane.
The project will advance westward, one block at a time, under an identical plan. Segments under construction are indicated with reflective poles, cones and dividers, clearly visible to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
The mayor still vows that the all the grunt will be completed by mid-November, prior to the Ajijic’s annual San Andrés fiestas. That pledge apparently doesn’t encompass completing the final details such as painting roadway markings, installing signage and refurbishing storefronts.