Little Rock's downtown water runoff project that caused a dispute between the city and business owners earlier this year over tree removal is closing a section of Main Street for three to four weeks, city officials announced Monday.
The 300 block of Main Street, from Third to Fourth streets, will be closed to vehicular traffic beginning at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Pedestrians and bicyclists may navigate the area during the closing.
The street closure to vehicles is needed to "maintain a safe working environment for construction crews and the general public," Luis Gonzalez, the city's communications and marketing manager, said in a news release Monday.
The work is part of the Main Street Creative Corridor project that began in March, in which various methods of treating water runoff are being installed from the 100 to 500 blocks, excluding the 400 block. It's a $1.6 million project, mostly funded by a $900,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant.
The project -- the first of its kind in central Arkansas -- will show the benefits of using green infrastructure to enhance water quality, according to the city. Much of the sidewalks will be replaced with trees, plants and other greenery that aid in water filtration. More water will be soaked up through the plants and filtered in a number of ways, rather than being guided into drainage openings and dumped into a body of water without any filtration.
Mike Hood, the city's civil engineering division manager, said both travel lanes, as well as the sidewalks and curbs along the 300 block, will be replaced with porous pavement or decorative pavement as part of the project.
"We feel like it's going to be minimum disruption to the downtown traffic pattern with downtown being a grid system," Hood said.
"I've heard some concerns from two of the business owners. We've met with them and tried to explain the situation the best we could. We just ask that everyone be patient and understanding with us. We are sensitive to the needs of everyone. Our intent is to get in there and out just as quick as we can and get this work done."
Parking spots on the east side of the 300 block are already unavailable because of construction. Contractors Monday had much of the sidewalk on that side of the street dug up. Club Level, Klofts and Downtown Wigs and Fashions, which all share a building, are affected on that side of the street.
Song Birdsill, owner of Downtown Wigs, said construction has already negatively affected her business "quite a bit." She doesn't know what is going to happen when the street is completely closed to vehicles for nearly a month, she said.
Most of the office buildings are vacant on the west side of the street. Bruno's Little Italy is the only operating business on that side. The restaurant is closed Mondays, and owners couldn't be reached for comment.
The city has arranged for pedestrian traffic to the businesses during operation hours. Hood said that he's also told business owners that he will make accommodations for them to access the front of their businesses by vehicle if needed throughout the project.
In about a month and a half, the construction crews will be moving to the 500 block of Main Street to continue work on the rest of the project. That, too, will require street closures, but Hood didn't know how long.
The plan for the city's sidewalk project also calls for dozens of trees from the 100 to 500 block of Main Street to be cut down, although many will be replaced and other vegetation will be added as part of the irrigation installations.
The tree removal angered some business owners when the project began in the spring. The tree cutting was halted for several months, which allowed for negotiations to take place with Mayor Mark Stodola.
Stodola announced last month that an agreement was reached.
While a few extra trees will be saved in front of Mann on Main -- a Moses Tucker Real Estate development -- the project will go forward as planned for the most part.
Metro on 09/09/2014