College Street to regain route through square

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

While downtown streets once led motorists to swing around the square, they will soon lead them straight through the city's center.

The College Street reopening project is now under way, with completion expected sometime this summer. The $235,000 project is expected to restore a portion of the downtown street grid, removing what has been called the west tuning fork, said Earl Newman, the city's assistant director of Public Works.

"This is a commitment to improving traffic flow in downtown that we're going to follow through with," Newman said.

Newman said the city is hoping to get notice to proceed with the project June 1, after City Council approves the project's bid. Work will begin June 1 and extend for about 60 days, Newman said.

For now, the utility companies that have lines running through the right of way in that area are moving their infrastructure in preparation for the street re-opening. Telecommunications company Southwestern Bell has about $40,000 worth of work to do in the area, said Area Manager Steve Vaught.

"We're spending $40,000 to help in this project to support downtown. To us, it's something that will help the area, so we're supporting it," Vaught said.

City Utilities is spending about $6,000 to move its electrical lines, said Ernest DeCamp, CU spokesman.

"That's really very low compared to the major intersections such as Sunshine and Campbell," DeCamp said.

The street re-opening will direct College Street through to Park Central West and the downtown square. A portion of the project is being funded by Community Development Block Grant funding, Newman said, with the rest coming from other city funds. CDBG funds will pick up about half of the $235,000 cost, Newman said.

Lance T. Brown, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance and head of the Traffic Circulation Task Force that has been researching some of downtown's traffic flow problems, said the structure of Park Central Square itself will not be altered.

"With this improvement, we hope to restore the grid system of the streets downtown and to open up the area to more economic development," Brown said.

Once the project is finished, his task force will begin looking at the overall parking situation on the west side of the square and will likely work to create a parking lot with some of the space remaining after the street cutting.

"We think there will be a spot where a potential of 33 automobiles can be parked as a result of the realignment. The west corridor could pick up 33 parking spaces with this move," Brown said.

Once the west side is finished, the city will turn its attention to the east side of the square, or east tuning fork. On that side, the street will cut through Jubilee Park, Brown said. That project is expected to be complete in late fall of 1999 or early 2000.

"We've talked with a number of people downtown who think this is just going to be great for traffic flow in that area. These improvements could lead to all sorts of new developments for that area," Brown said.

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