It would seem that the squeaky wheel does, in fact, get the asphalt.

In light of several complaints from residents, the Ironton paving project has been stepped up, meaning smooth sailing on Sixth Street, with others soon to come.

Kenneth Dillon, superintendent with paving contractor Mountain Enterprise, said he is pleased with the work his company did on Sixth Street, saying it's almost like a "super highway" now.

He said that his crew spent some of Wednesday leveling the middle of some sections of Third Street in anticipation of Ironmaster Days. This morning, he'll be working further downtown.

"We're going to pave downtown and finish it, down past the City Building and where the businesses are at," Dillon said. "Then things will look up and everybody will start to be happy again."

Complaints about the work have come fast and furious, which Dillon said is common during improvement projects.

"Sometimes you have to have a little bit of construction," Dillon said. "You have to compliment the city for trying to update what they can."

City Engineer Phil Biggs has taken those complaints to heart and, as a result, has changed the approach to the paving product somewhat.

Instead of completely finishing each road before moving on, he and Mountain Enterprise are laying down a basic layer of asphalt on each road, to make the going a bit smoother for motorists - and Biggs as well.

"They just said 'Since you're having so much difficulty with the public, we'll go ahead and put those initial coats in and then we'll come back after the sidewalk work is done,'" Biggs said.

"We've accelerated them to get them to work on these other sidewalk locations for the handicap ramps. We're trying to get these sections of town done as quickly as we can and we're trying to get them to do the concrete down where the asphalt goes in so we can get asphalt back on the streets."

Some of the sidewalks on Sixth still require work, Biggs said. In addition to Third Street, crews will soon be finishing up the Fifth Street intersections.