MARYSVILLE — Relief for many downtown businesses is in sight. City officials say two lanes of State Avenue between Fourth and Eighth streets will reopen by April 5 — two months earlier than the original construction schedule.
Dave Lervik, the State Avenue project manager, said paving was finished Monday, and the Grove intersection was to be finished Monday night.
State has been closed between Fourth and Eighth streets, and only two lanes have been open between Eighth and Grove.
Lervik and others connected with the project walked down the street Monday and talked to people at random in businesses that have been affected by the closure or partial closure of the city’s main downtown arterial.
"People were saying that business is certainly down, but everyone was in a good mood because they’re seeing it getting paved. Everyone was pretty ecstatic about (the early opening)," Lervik said.
"It’s going to be beautiful when it’s done, so we can hardly wait," said Dan Peterson, manager of the Windermere Real Estate office at Eighth Street and State Avenue.
While many businesses have had fewer customers, the real estate office is less dependent than others on walk-in customers, he said.
"Ninety-five percent of our business is done with agents out in the field working with buyers and sellers. It might have stopped a few people who might have walked into our business," Peterson said.
Once the construction project, which includes new, wider sidewalks, is complete, Windermere plans to add landscaping and a small waterfall.
While the paving is completed for now, construction crews still have to "raise the iron" — adjust manholes and valves to the new surface, Lervik said. Then the pavement has to be striped. Workers then will reconfigure the traffic signal at Fourth Street and open the road to traffic in that part of the project.
Probably in June, crews will have to add the last layer of asphalt, but that won’t take more than a day or two, Lervik said.
While two traffic lanes will open by April 5, other work will continue, such as planting trees and finishing sidewalks. The city is waiting for new street lights and traffic signals to arrive, and can’t remove the power poles until the new signals are in place and all utility work is finished, Lervik said. Comcast, Verizon and Snohomish County PUD still are using the above-ground lines.
And in the first week of May, Marshbank Construction crews will begin the third and final phase of the project, which will close State Avenue from First to Fourth streets. The project is expected to wrap up in mid-July, Lervik said.
"We’re really excited about how quickly the project is moving," said Mary Swenson, the city’s chief administrative officer. " And I think the weather is helping."
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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