No more walking on a sidewalk through the construction zone on South Franklin Street.
City officials on Thursday authorized the construction company to work on both sides of the road at the same time, limiting pedestrian access in order to try to move the project along faster. The original plan had been for just one side of the street sidewalk to be blocked off at a time, keeping pedestrian access open on the other side.
In a release Thursday, the city said it wanted to make up for lost time due to recent snowfall, that put the project behind schedule.
“Local pedestrian access to buildings in that area is being provided through gravel walkways,” city engineer Lori Sawa wrote in the release Thursday.
The project is going block-by-block up South Franklin Street, scheduled to finish the block between Manila Square to Ferry Way by April 15 and the block between Ferry Way and Front Street by May 15. The entire project is scheduled to be done June 1. The first block won’t be finished by April 15, Sowa said at Thursday’s Chamber of Commerce Luncheon, but she was confident that the project as a whole will still be done by that June 1 projection.
Sowa wants to remind store owners on South Franklin to take down any breakable items in storefronts during the construction, as one shelf did fall Thursday morning. Arete Construction has been demolishing the road and sidewalks this week, and Sowa anticipates that the first concrete pour could happen as early as Friday.
