August 11, 2009 meeting

Media Advisory

What: The City of Knoxville is hosting a public meeting updating the status of the ongoing Gay Street Streetscapes project on the 100 and 200 Blocks of Gay Street

When: 5 p.m., Tuesday, August 11

Where: Emporium Building, 100 S. Gay Street

This is the latest in an ongoing series of periodic meetings to provide an update on construction activities on the 100 and 200 blocks of Gay Street and discuss various issues with residents and business owners. City officials and contractors will also talk about future work and schedules during the meeting.

The near $4 million project is slated to last 18 months and includes much needed repair and reconstruction work on the underground structures supporting the block – which was raised above the original street in 1919. The work also includes the replacement of the street and both sidewalks, major utility upgrades and streetscape improvements.

More information about the Gay Street Streetscapes Project is available at www.cityofknoxville.org/policy/100block

100 Block Streetscapes
Agenda
August 11, 2009
5:00 pm
Emporium

1. Call to Order
2. Review of work to date
3. Work to be accomplished in the next two months
a.) Utility work at Vine Avenue
b.) Utility work and Streetscape on the 200 Block
c.) Work on sidewalks
d.) Grading of 100 Block
4. Other issues
a.) Deliveries
b.) Parking lot
c.) Security
d.) Access
5. Questions and concerns
6. Adjourn

Construction Update

Our utility work in the 100 Block of S. Gay Street is almost completed with some water meters, fire hydrants and fire service lines left to be installed.

KUB is also continuing with their efforts to transfer over electrical service to the new installations.

We will resume work at the intersection of Vine Avenue and S. Gay Street beginning Monday. This work will involve extending the sewer line. At least one lane of Vine Avenue should remain open through most of this work.

Since excavation is virtually completed on the 1oo Block, we plan to take down most of the burlap which should visually open back up the block at least.

With the completion of the work at Vine, we will then most likely resume our work in the 200 Block. We are making sure that both Vine Avenue and the 200 Block are not both closed at the same time. We will discuss the implications of this move more completely at our meeting on August 11, 2009 at 5pm at the Emporium. I hope all of you can be there. We need your input as we plan to move the project forward. It is my understanding that one lane of the 200 Block will remain open for the majority of the time it will take to complete this work which could take as much as one month.

When this is completed then we plan to move back into Vine Avenue for 2 to 3 weeks which will probably involve a complete closure for a large amount of the time.

The sidewalk work and structural column work will probably begin near the first of September. The Contractor and Engineers are carefully reviewing the plans so we make sure we get off on the right foot with this critical work.

The Contractor plans to temporarily patch that bit of sidewalk which was torn out on the east side of S. Gay Street at the State Street/W. Vine Avenue area.

You may have noticed our "We are Open Sign" has been down lately. Exhibitors Source folks have been working on it to repair wind damage and it should be back up shortly.

It is the time of year for folks to be moving in and out of the various condos and apartments and we have made accommodations for this. If folks will find the Superintendent or a Construction Manager on site, we will probably be able to direct them through the construction site closer to the building entrance.

We are in the preliminary stages of discussing the Jackson Avenue ramp issues and I plan to post more on this as discussions move forward.

Again, I encourage anyone who is interested in the Streetscapes Project or anyone having questions or concerns to attend our meeting on August 11 at 5pm at the Emporium. I plan to have KPD, KUB, City Engineering, CBID, and Contractors there to hopefully answer any questions.

I will post the Agenda early next week along with another announcement.

View of the 200 Block looking south on a rainy morning

100 Block Mascot

Note the bird hitchhiking on the excavator. He was there with the machine running almost like he was inspecting with his mouth wide open most of the time.

Construction Update

We are still finishing up the last bit of utility work on the 100 Block primarily on the Vine Avenue end of the block. Hopefully in the next week we will have extended the stormwater utility which we are currently working on all the way to Vine Avenue. At that point we hope to begin excavation for the subgrade and then hopefully putting back in some of the rock on the balance of the 100 Block.

The final design of the columns under the sidewalk is still being reviewed by all those involved and we hope to start work very soon on this next phase, probably in the next few weeks. I should know more about this by our meeting on August 11. My hope is that once we begin actually forming up and pouring concrete, we can get a more reliable schedule of work so folks can know when their sidewalk may be affected. Some work is going on under the sidewalk now as we prepare for that next phase of work. At some point it will be necessary to close off access to the underground areas for the safety of all involved.

Of course finishing up this work means we are also closer to having to finish up some utility work in the 200 Block which will force Vine Avenue to be closed for some period of time. We are still discussing all of the logistics associated with that move keeping in mind issues that arose when we previously worked in the 200 Block.

I have included several pictures of the site for those who may be interested and not down there often.

This pic is taken from the midblock crossing looking toward Jackson Avenue and shows the area which is completed except for some minor utility work. This is the area we plan to begin preparing for the final grade work.

This is the stormwater work still to be completed in the next week or so.

This pic is from the midblock crossing looking south toward Summitt Hill.

Another pic taken from the crossing created along Jackson and again showing the area that is close to being completed. There is a strong possibility that we can also take down the fencing when this bit of work is finished.

This picture was taken looking down Vine Avenue to its intersection with the 100 Block. This work will be very complicated when we actually begin as all of the utilities come together here.. You can see all of the patches in the road where previous work has taken place.

Thanks for all of the encouraging comments from everyone. I have shared them with those involved in the project and we all appreciate it.

Meeting

I have scheduled the next meeting for the 100 Block Community for Tuesday August 11, 2009 at 5Pm at the Emporium. I will try to have KPD, Contractor, KUB, City Engineering, and the CBID represented there to give an update on activities to date and to discuss future work and schedules. I will send out a press release and reminder along with an Agenda closer to the actual meeting date but wanted you to put it on your calenders now. Hope to see everyone there.

Construction Update

We are now only a few weeks away from completing the utility work within the 100 Block of S. Gay Street according to Contractors. When this last bit of work is complete, we will be able to remove the burlap from the fencing.

At that point we can begin working on the subgrade for the road and probably putting in 2 or 3 inches of base stone as well. It is possible that the fence may be able to be removed, at least in some locations, when that task is completed. Engineers are taking one last look at the structural column design before we proceed with the sidewalk construction phase. Hopefully this work is still on schedule to begin in a couple of weeks. The old sidewalk which has been partially damaged by the new construction will be repaired as we construct the new columns and sidewalk.

Quite a bit of work remains however at the intersection of Vine Avenue and S. Gay Street, and then on up into the 200 Block. The excavation and installing of the stormwater system is advancing to this point where it comes together with water, electric, and gas.

I am still in the process of scheduling a meeting for either August 10 or 11 and will announce that here and through a press release when the date is confirmed.

If anyone has any issues they would like me to place on the agenda, please forward to me at Remmett@cityofknoxville.org.

Thanks to everyone for their continued cooperation.

KUB water outage

The outage may occur on Thursday from 3am until 7am on the west side of the 100 Block. KUB is running some tests and if all goes well they will begin their notification procedure. Hopefully the outage will be no more than 2 hours but they always schedule the extra time in case of problems. I will post more on this tomorrow after the weekly construction meeting.