Bell tears up 40th Street

Workers started the project on Monday and will need to close smaller stretches of 40th Street for a day or two at a time during the project. According to Tony D'Antonio, engineering manager for Bell, the phone company is placing an underground conduit along the route, and upgrading the phone lines. "We will be upgrading the cables and putting new cables behind homes," D'Antonio said. "All new facilities will be put in. Most of those cables are about 1930, 1940 vintage. Hopefully this will provide better service." Workers will gut the street to lay the cables. During most of the project, the road will be open to traffic. But when the work requires laying lines perpendicular to the street, workers will close the street, D'Antonio said. The work will eventually lead to the replacement of cables in many the homes around the area. According to D'Antonio the workers will have to do extensive work in the alleys and backyards around the area. He added that the work will take several months. Residents who live in the area should be receiving postcards informing them of the roadwork soon, Bell spokesperson John Caltagirone said. "Normally letters or postcards are sent out to the neighborhood telling them that work is going to take place in the area," Caltagirone said. Residents of High Rise North and houses around the area have said that the noise is disturbing early in the morning. "It woke us up the other morning," College sophomore Ari Wasserman said. "I heard this loud banging and I figured it was either construction or someone getting shot." Other students were dismayed to learn that the work would be lasting for a month. "It's noisy and annoying, but it's only temporary," said Engineering junior Andrew Kraus.

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