Construction Update - November 12, 2009

As we all had hoped, work is progressing as planned on the 200 Block of S. Gay Street. We had hoped to begin reforming the new sidewalk this week but a rethinking by KUB of future sewer service will require additional excavation within the new sidewalk area. As a result the new sidewalk work will begin next week and this new design will serve the area even better in the future. KUB electric crews have made substantial progress in the last week with some very complex and critical work. Hopefully in a couple of weeks the first vault to be abandoned under the east sidewalk can be removed so we can proceed even further with our preliminary work on the east sidewalk. The picture below, although not one of my better pictures, shows the extent of the future sidewalk. A couple of the future street light bases are also now in place on the western sidewalk of the 200 Block.

I am also happy to report that we will begin sidewalk reconstruction in the 100 Block of S. Gay Street on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. This phase of work will involve cutting the existing sidewalk into large pieces for easier removal and then forming and pouring concrete to jacket the columns with new beams and lastly forming the new sidewalk. The area should only be daylighted no more than two days. The process of sidewalk removal should take around four to six hours. The entire process for each three column section will be two weeks or so. We will be able to more accurately estimate timing after this first section is completed. Also we will be forming the new pathway around the construction site and bridging over into the apartments into the VMC building so we will have a chance to correct any issues that may come from that process before we get to the more active areas of the block.

The picture below shows the beginning point of the sidewalk construction along Jackson Avenue.The blues lines indicate the location of future beams and also the column locations. The work will begin very near the street sign pole location on the right of the picture.

The first phase of work will probably end around the white circle indicating a column in the picture below. This will be a span of six underground columns.

Much work has been accomplished underground as well as is shown on the next two pictures below. A new sidewalk has been poured underground to replace the sidewalk that was broken up in construction. Concrete jackets will be formed around the columns as we replace each section of sidewalk.

In the picture above, it is interesting to note the old water main which served an ancient fire hydrant which has been out of service for many years.

This picture was taken in the middle of the street in the 200 Block and shows a storm drain, probably from the 1919 era which is completely blocked up with debris.

The Treble Clef statue was successfully moved in one piece last Thursday and we hope to erect one of the City Christmas trees here soon.

Lastly for those of you interested in the Jackson Avenue parking lot, the proposal to purchase this property is on the City Council agenda for Tuesday night, November 17, 2009.

I am hoping to set a meeting up to further discuss the ongoing construction as well as to explore ideas concerning advertising and/or signage among other topics. This meeting will likely be the end of November of first of December. Please let me know if you would like me to place any items on the agenda for discussion.

Thanks for your continued interest.