Main Street reopens to traffic; more work and detours are expected
Motorists entering downtown Clinton on Monday morning found all of Main Street open to traffic as the cold and snowy weather apparently delayed work that had kept part of the street closed for the past several weeks.
But Market Street continued to be closed to vehicles, even though downtown stores remain open and ready for customers.
The recent Main Street closures are part of a schedule announced in mid-August that said it would be shut down in three sections and phases, two times each, from Aug. 24 through mid-December.
In the first phase, Main Street was closed from Cullom to Church streets Aug. 24 until mid-October, then the work moved south two blocks.
The next phase moves the work even slightly farther south, as part of Phase 3.
When that is completed, the three-section shutdown process will repeat, with the final work planned to be finished in December, weather permitting.
Traffic disruptions are the result of street, sidewalk and utility construction work that has already kept most of Market Street shut down since mid-July, blocking vehicular access to the fronts of most of the downtown businesses along Market Street.
All of the Market and Main street businesses remain open throughout the construction, with parking available in the two downtown parking lots – on Commerce Street and on North Main Street at North Hicks Street.
For Phase 3, detour routes will be:
• Southbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow Kincaid Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to Broad Street as the designated detour.
• Northbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow Broad Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to Kincaid Street as the designated detour.
The closures will repeat when the “concrete segment” of the Main Street work begins, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 3-24:
Phase 1: Nov. 3-10, the section of Main Street between Kincaid Street and Broad Street will be closed for construction.
Detour routes:
• Southbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow Kincaid Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to Broad Street as the designated detour.
• Northbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow Broad Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to Kincaid Street as the designated detour.
Phase 2: Nov. 10-17, the section of Main Street between East Church Street and Kincaid Street will be closed.
Detour routes:
• Southbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow East Church Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to Kincaid Street as the designated detour.
• Northbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow Kincaid Street to North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard to East Church Street as the designated detour.
Phase 3: Nov. 17-24, the section of Main Street between East Church Street and Cullom Street will be closed.
Detour routes:
• Southbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow North Hicks Street to West Broad Street to Main Street as the designated detour.
• Northbound traffic (toward Market Street): Follow West Broad Street to North Hicks Street to Main Street as the designated detour.
The schedule for the Main Street closures and the detour routes during those shutdowns are detailed online at clintontn.net/o/clinton/page/main-street.
This is part of a $9.9 million project that began in late February and is expected to last for about 17 months total in the historic area of downtown Clinton as new water and sewer lines are installed, sidewalks are replaced and improved, and landscaping is added.