In an effort to insure the construction of a new six-story parking deck planned for the Dearborn Town Center is on solid ground, a new process will be “felt and heard” by businesses and residents in the area beginning Wednesday and continuing through Friday.

As part of the preparation work for the City’s public parking structure that will accompany the medical facility, the Dailey Company will be driving test piles from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

Pile driving involves hammering large steel units into the ground to hold foundations and structural supports. Noise and vibrations associated with pile driving operations are inevitable.

The testing is a preview of the construction of the deck. Pile driving for the parking deck is expected to begin late August and last about four weeks.

Residents or businesses with questions can call Cindy Grimwade in the city’s Economic and Community Development Department at 943-2180 ext. 6.

This new early testing procedure of the ground should prevent a repeat of the additional work that was done during construction several years ago of the city’s two parking decks at the West Village Commons. During that construction, additional steel units had to be driven into the ground so the structural supports could go deep enough to find a solid foundation. This unexpected work added cost and development time to that project.