The big news this week is that we can expect the construction to begin on the final block of the east side of Main early next week. Construction on the west side of First, between Pacific and Main, is almost complete, and access in to the Rodeo parking lot from First can be reopened. This will allow the crew to close the Main Ave access and demo the entire block (from First to Second) at one time. Business access to Sunset Tans, Food Roots, Matthew Lyon’s office and the Local Dog House will be maintained by a temporary sidewalk from Second Street headed north.
Sidewalk and concrete work throughout the project is on the schedule, but remains weather dependent. When I have been writing “weather dependent” in the past, I have always considered the the variable to be rain, but it turns out that concrete also requires certain temperatures- there is a thirty-five degree minimum to pour, which has been a bit of a question mark at times this week.
There is a lot of electrical work going on in tandem with this stage in the sidewalk progress. You may notice crews busy setting electrical cabinets and some of the conduit, boxes and crossing fixtures over the next week. Layers of this work happen at each stage in the construction process, and then will all be tied together and go live later in the project.
Despite the cold temperatures this week, spring is just around the corner, and downtown is gearing up. If you find yourself with a few free moments, I would encourage you to take advantage of parking on Pacific or Second and wander around. It is an interesting experience to walk the old sidewalks on the west side of Main, the construction planks of east Main, and then explore the new sidewalks on Pacific. Downtown merchants have remained dedicated during all of this turmoil, and there has been some new business activity that has cropped up amidst all of this dust. We invite you to check out the Art Walk this Saturday, 2/24 from 1-3, or Food Roots’ new location and locally sourced farm products. Not only are the streets themselves seeing huge progress, the downtown business atmosphere is as well- thank you for your continued attention to the project, and we look forward to seeing you downtown!