The first phase of a street improvement project along Roosevelt Street between Central Avenue and Fourth Street is inching closer to its tentative start date of June 9.
The city of Phoenix held an informal gathering Thursday night at the Irish Cultural Center on Central Avenue, near the proposed construction site, to inform the public about the upcoming construction.
“We’re responding to their requests, we want to make businesses happy, we want to make the area thrive and be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing,” said Gail Brinkmann, a landscape architect employed by the city of Phoenix and lead coordinator on the project.
The project was conceived in 2006. There have been roughly 12 to 14 public meetings about the project since then, Brinkmann said.
The construction is federally funded by a $1.75 million “transportation enhancement” grant. The funds were allocated specifically for this project and were approved by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, Brinkmann said.
The current plan is to narrow the roadways to one lane of traffic in each direction with one turn lane in the middle of the road in order to significantly widen the sidewalks. After construction, each lane will be 10 feet wide with five feet for a bike lane, with another eight feet for parallel parking on the north side of the street.
Joel Goldenthal is the executive director of jazz club The Nash, which will be directly impacted by the nine-month road and sidewalk improvement project.
“I think that anything that is done to make the downtown area more conducive to foot traffic and people exploring the area is a positive,” Goldenthal said.
Goldenthal said that he had not been contacted by the contractors or design group about the potential impact on his business. Brinkmann said that any lack of contact was not deliberate.
“The contractor will work with each property owner and each one will be different because each one has different doors and areas and times that they’re opened and closed,” Brinkmann said.
Goldenthal’s main concern is the impact of construction noise from outside mixing with the jazz music inside his venue.
“It seems to me like they’ve got a very cooperative attitude and we can work it out,” Goldenthal said. “I don’t rule out the possibility that there may have been a communication glitch in reaching us.”
An issue that was raised during the meeting was that the design group, Ritoch-Powell & Associates, didn’t put enough thought into how culturally rich the area is.
Carla Logan, owner of Carly’s Bistro on Roosevelt Street, had the idea to bring in local artists to paint the planters that the trees designed to provide more shade will sit in.
The contractors have been told not to work on First Fridays and construction areas will be clearly flagged with signage during that time according to Brent Knourek, a contractor for Talis Corp., the main group of contractors in charge of the project.
“Hopefully some of those elements in the design can be worked out and made more identifiable to the arts district because that’s what we are and that’s what we’d like to remain,” Logan said.
Talis Corp. plans to meet with each business owner up to two weeks in advance of when any construction would begin to affect their business. Every business has to remain open to pedestrian access during the entire project, Knourek said.
“We’re of course worried about interruption of business during construction,” Logan said. “But we will be open for business and it sounds like the construction company is going to be pretty accommodating in allowing us to have access.”
The construction was originally planned to be finished before the Super Bowl comes to town next February but the main repaving of the roadway should be finished by that time, Brinkmann said.
The second phase of the project, which will narrow the roads and add bike lanes and parking to Roosevelt Street between Fourth and Seventh streets, is still in the design phase and is slated to begin in the summer of 2015, according to Raj Shah of Ritoch-Powell & Associates.
Contact the reporter at nkruege1@asu.edu
