The business of detours: City to create temporary gravel road along N. Main St. closure
Published 10:35 am Friday, April 25, 2014
Traffic goes by the North Main Street Flood Control project Thursday afternoon as work continues. The city will close the street to traffic on May 5, but a series of gravel roads will be constructed to help people access businesses along the stretch. Part of that stretch would run parallel to the work through the YMCA parking lot pictured in the foreground.
Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
North Main Street may be shutting down for several months, but the city is taking steps to ensure businesses won’t be.
City workers are setting up makeshift gravel roads along businesses on the western side of North Main Street from First Drive to Eighth Avenue Northwest.
“We’ve made arrangements with all affected businesses,” Public Works Director Steven Lang said.
North Main Street will close on May 5 and will be shut down for several months for construction work on the Cedar River with the North Main Flood Control Project. The street is scheduled to open in November.
Contractors will build gravel roads connecting business parking lots between the Cedars of Austin and the Austin YMCA. Lang said the gravel roads are so residents can access those businesses, as the detour for North Main Street will be Fourth Street Northwest.
Several city reconstruction projects will likely start in May, though the city hasn’t bid any projects out yet, according to Lang. The earliest projects, such as Eighth Avenue Southwest from 12th to 18th streets and the Kaufman Park Area (Ninth Avenue Southeast from the abandoned railroad to Eighth Street, 10th Avenue Southeast from the railroad to Eighth Street, 11th Avenue Southeast from the railroad to Eighth Street, Sixth Street Southeast from Eighth to 10th Avenue, and Seventh Street Southeast from Eighth to 11th Avenue), could start as soon as May 19.
Click on graphic below to enlarge.
