SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Patience and caution will be valuable traits during the next several months as a number of base roads undergo a $750,000 repaving.
“It will be difficult, but nothing we can’t manage, while the work is being done in phases. And afterwards, the base will have really nice, new roads that are smooth, look better and will result in less wear and tear on vehicles,” said Lt. j.g. Doug Herrin, resident officer in charge of construction at Sasebo’s Public Works Department.
Starting Saturday, perhaps the best- known bumps in Sasebo’s roads — at the Ohio Boulevard/California Drive intersection in front of the Fleet Landing — will be closed for repaving until Nov. 28.
During that week, repaving will occur from near the Ohio Boulevard crosswalk between the commissary and post office to Fleet Landing.
“All traffic will be detoured through the intersection by the main gate between the post office and commissary to travel between the Tategami and Hirase areas of the base,” Herrin said this week.
A Tokyo contractor, the Kajima Road Company, is doing the repaving.
“They are an excellent company,” Herrin said. “They do a lot of road construction in Japan including a lot of work on the expressways.”
By Christmas, work should be complete in other project phases including a section of road from California Drive near the back gate, along Oregon Drive up to the McDonald’s restaurant, and the utility road to Gate 24 at the India Basin Pier entrance.
Also before Christmas, repaving should be complete on South Carolina Avenue from the post office to just past the Navy Exchange furniture warehouse.
Drivers are asked to pay attention to directions being given by the flagmen during the various construction phases, said Lt. j.g. Brian Foster of the Public Works Department. “Everyone looks forward to being able to drive on the new roads so a little patience from everyone is appreciated.”
During January and February, repaving is to take place at the back gate, Mississippi Avenue alongside the NEX Autoport and a segment of South Carolina Avenue behind the Autoport.
Beginning in late February, Herrin said, repaving is to start all the way down California Drive on the Hirase Peninsula, and on the parallel road, Wisconsin Loop, running in front of the bachelor enlisted housing past the Navy Lodge.
He said other project phases, planned to start in the summer, include widening and beautification of walkways leading to the main gate and repaving of the road encircling Nimitz Park.
Herrin’s advice for after the Fleet Landing intersection is complete Nov. 28: “Stay tuned” because American Forces Network radio and base newspaper will announce starting dates and detour information for the other phases.
Call Herrin at DSN 252-3469 for additional information about the repaving projects.
