This Monday crews start the work to completely reconstruct Fourth Avenue from South Jackson Street to Olive Way. Some of the concrete panels along the roadway are up to 60 years old -even though the common life span of these panels is 40 years. Phase one of the project, from South Jackson Street to James Street, is expected to wrap up in early January, 2010, then work moves north toward Olive.
Do these project details sound daunting? Not to fear. There is a light at the end of the tunnel (metaphoric reference – no actual tunneling involved) and the proof is in completed projects. This month Marion Street, Stewart Street and Second Avenue are all expected to wrap up, with only minor touch ups remaining. And when you consider that Fourth Avenue in Belltown and Pike Street at the Market are also now complete, the picture starts to look pretty rosy (or grey, as it were, for concrete). So thank you for your patience – thanks for hanging in there.
The reconstruction of Fourth requires the four-lane roadway to go down to two lanes and parking to go away temporarily (to make room for the equipment and workers). Remember those first few days of any project are tough as drivers get used to the change, but as we did with Second Avenue we will closely monitor impacts and tweak as needed.
