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NEWS
Closure of 4th Avenue to continue into next week
Nathan Porter of Hager Construction edges a curb Monday, April 27, 2009, as construction continues on the Old Main Corridor project along 4th Avenue between 9th and 10th streets in Huntington.
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HUNTINGTON -- The 900 block of 4th Avenue will be shut down for at least the rest of this week, as work continues on the Old Main Corridor restoration project, and the closure may extend into the early part of next week.
It all depends on the weather, said Bruce Gold of Hager Construction, the project manager. And rain is forecast for a good part of this week.
On Monday, workers were doing decorative concrete work. They're putting in a cross walk between Frederick building complex and the entryway to the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, which involves a lot of intricate work, Gold said.
"As soon as we finish, we cannot open the street. We have to wait at least three days after we finish," Gold said. He's hoping to finish up by Thursday or Friday so the street can open next Monday, but with the forecast, it's unlikely, he said.
As soon as the 900 block opens to traffic, workers will close the 800 block of 4th Avenue, and it will be shut down about 10 days, Gold said. Another cross walk is going in at the middle of that block as well, to encourage people not to jaywalk.
"When we get the 800 block finished, we're going to shut both blocks for two or three days to do the paving and the striping," he said. "Every bit of that is contingent upon the weather. None of the work remaining can be done in inclement weather."
Crews were shooting to have this segment of work finished by mid-April to early May, but the weather has not been cooperating, Gold said.
When it does get done with these portions of the project, hopefully in a few weeks, workers won't be seen for a while and it will appear as if they're finished, he said. But they're not. It's just that they have a long lead time on jobs that are a couple months away.
There will be some intricate work done with granite, which should get started this summer, and there will be square medallions and light panels installed on the edges of the sidewalk, about a month or so away, he said.
"We'll be coming back as they are available and installing those, but our presence on the avenue will not be anyway near the magnitude is has been," Gold said.
The entire project is intended to enhance 4th Avenue between 8th Street and Hal Greer Boulevard, and the first phase is between 8th and 10th streets. As a whole, the project involves replacement of sidewalks, construction of two pedestrian plazas, new street lighting similar to Pullman Square's and repavement of 4th Avenue.
