The complete reconstruction of First Avenue South between Stacy and Horton Streets is nearly done! Crews finished paving over the weekend and this week finished striping all five travel lanes. Crosswalks and arrows will require an occasional single lane closure, but otherwise the project is expected to wrap up by Friday, weather permitting (the caveat SDOT lives by). The last bastion of construction activity, the no park signs preventing parallel parking, will be removed in the next week or so as final touches are made. The crowning detail, the addition of American Hornbeam trees, takes place in November when the trees are more likely to survive the transplant.
Crews working overnight
This project began in early February, with the scope of work necessitating temporary elimination of parking on both sides of First Ave. S, and restriction of traffic to two northbound lanes and a single southbound lane during construction. Crews rebuilt the road from the bottom up, adding a new 24” main waterline; replacing storm drains to improve surface drainage; creating street curbs and curb cuts for vehicle and pedestrian access; installing new vehicle detection loops under the pavement to aid in signal operation; building concrete pads for Metro buses, to reduce future maintenance costs; and rebuilding approximately 75 percent of the area sidewalks.
- The view of the newly striped center lanes at Stacy Street
- View of the new crosswalk at Forest Street
This project, as all paving projects underway, is funded by Bridging the Gap, the voter-approved $365 million dollar levy for transportation maintenance and improvements.