Downtown Clinton roadwork enters next phase
Workers have begun pouring new concrete curbs and putting up low brick barriers along Market Street in downtown Clinton as work on the city’s key business district continues. Sidewalks are scheduled to be poured next. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Also, most of Market Street continues to be closed to vehicles, but improvements that have been promised under the downtown street and sidewalk project have begun showing up. New curbs and some low brick walls along Market Street were installed over the past few days, and sidewalk repaving is not far behind, city officials say.
The newest Main Street closure is a continuation 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, then in Phase 2, it was closed from Church to Leinart streets.
Last week, Main Street was open to traffic all the way through, but a short section was restricted to a single lane, with flaggers allowing traffic to alternate directions through the one-lane area.
After the current Phase 3 shutdown is completed, the three-step process will repeat.
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 the current Main Street shutdown (Phase 3), from Leinart to Broad streets, the detour routes are:
• 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 mid-December:
Phase 1: 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: 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: 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.
New water and sewer lines are being installed, sidewalks are being replaced and improved, and landscaping is being added.