Construction Update - March 25, 2010

Work this week has consisted of pouring concrete for the reinforced columns near the facade on the 100 Block of S. Gay Street and replacing the beams. The steel has been delivered so the framework for the new sidewalk is also in progress. We hope to begin pouring back that sidewalk in the next ten days or so.

In the meantime, next week, we plan to begin pouring the colored two inch concrete topcoat which will complete the sidewalk in the 200 Block. This work should be finished by First Friday on April 2, 2010.

Then, on Monday April 5, we will begin one of the most difficult sections of work left and that is the work at the Vine Street intersection. On that day we will have to completely close that intersection for three weeks to one month. This will mean that folks using the Sterchi Building parking lot will have to enter and exit from Walnut Street off of Summit Hill Drive.

The small section of State Street will remain open for deliveries and we have expanded the radius so folks can loop around through the parking area in front of O.P. Jenkins. The two pictures below reflect the work being completed to allow this movement. The radius is large enough for the larger delivery trucks to make that turn.

I will get out a press release on this next week as well.

By the end of April, we plan to completely reopen the 200 Block to traffic and Vine Avenue will also be open for traffic at that time.

The area we are using for the turn radius as well the area that is now a part of the short section of State Street will become additional parking for the block and we will be working on getting that formed and striped while we are working at that intersection.

With better weather we think we can really make noticeable progress from here until August.

The schedule from here on out will likely consist of finishing the sidewalk in front of facade, then finishing the last section of sidewalk on the eastern side of the street.

Sometime around mid May/June, then, we will move back over to the western sidewalk. This work will likely be broken into three work zones because of all of the access issues but each section hopefully will only take ten days to two weeks.

While all of this is going on, we plan to finish up portions of the roadway itself on the 100 Block.

Timing will be tight but we believe we can have it substantially completed by August, such that all sections of the roadway are reopened. There will probably still be some temporary finish work after this time which may require some additional small sections of the roadway or sidewalk to be closed but these closures should be for a very brief time.

Thanks again for all of your patience and understanding.