Update on the Downtown Water Project

Work continues on the downtown water project, and workers are starting to make tie-ins to get the new system up and running. This means those of you that are often in and around downtown will start to notice some different types of activity.

First, some stretches of our streets will be closed for overnight periods. For example, workers will begin to tie-in the new lines near the intersection of Loop Road and Vance Street on Monday. They’ll work around the clock, and one lane of Loop Road will close during that time. You can read the full details here.

Another difference you’ll start to notice is water — and probably a good deal of it — being flushed out of hydrants downtown in the next few months. This is an important process for bringing the new pipes online. Obviously, water conservation is very important to the City, so know that this is absolutely critical to ensuring the proper functioning of the line.

The project overall has gone very smoothly. It is mostly on schedule, and should be completed by mid-September. You can keep up with weekly updates here.

Downtown Water Project Update and Photos

As you may have noticed, the downtown water project took a turn into the main part of town this week after spending the first portion of the project on Vance. As of today, Oak Avenue is almost done, and you can see the progress in the asphalt patches along the streets.

For those of you wondering why the asphalt patches are low, check out information from an email sent from Mark McGregor with the City Engineering office last month:

Also, we had a good question this week about the asphalt being low in the ditch line. We will be leaving the asphalt a little low in the ditch to help us when we install the final surface of asphalt.  We do this for a couple of reasons, one, the asphalt needs to be as deep as we can get it to keep it from  popping up and two, we may need to dig back down to the pipe in case we have a leak. We want the finish coat of asphalt to be as smooth as possible when we are done. In other words, we don’t want a patch in a patch.  We will monitor the patch as we progress through the project and keep it maintained to minimize the inconvenience to everyone.

Here are some pictures of the project that were taken when workers were outside city offices. Also, weekly updates on road closures related to the project can be found on the project blog here.

A view of the new and old lines. Once again, the new line is closest to the ladder

 

Downtown Water Project Coming in January

Starting in January, a major project to replace the water lines downtown is set to begin. We’re working very, very hard to make sure this project creates as little disruption as possible for downtown merchants, residents and shoppers. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we release a construction timeline and other information.

In the meantime, we’ve launched a sister blog that will provide weekly updates on the project. You can view it here or on the links on this page.

The big news is that the project will go block-by-block and will only impact one side of the road at any given time. During the project please be on the look-out for temporary signage that will help you find parking and alternate routes to downtown shops.