Posted: 7:30 am Tue, November 15, 2011
By Matt M.?Johnson
Tags: C.S. McCrossan, Central Corridor, Jack McCaan, Laura Baenen, Steve Bernick, University Avenue, Walsh Construction
Walsh Construction Co. excavators work near Fairview Avenue on Sunday as heavy construction on the Central Corridor LRT line enters its final month in 2011. (Photo: Matt M. Johnson)
It?s been the better part of a year since four lanes of traffic flowed through the light-rail transit (LRT) construction zone on University Avenue. With deep ground frost less than a month away, contractors are making their last big digs of the year and paving lanes to ready them for cars and snowplows.
After a stressful year of staying open in a construction zone, University Avenue merchants are gearing up for what they hope will be a fairly normal holiday sales season.
?Well, we?re excited about having our road access back,? said Steve Bernick, the owner and manager of Milbern Clothing Company, a men?s clothing retailer near Snelling Avenue on University Avenue.
Over the next two weeks, Central Corridor contractors Ames/McCrossan Joint Venture and Walsh Construction will finish the 2011 schedule of heavy construction on of the 11-mile Central Corridor LRT line. Winter will start with traffic flowing over four paved lanes on University Avenue, and with cars, trucks, and buses rolling almost freely on the Washington Avenue bridge and in downtown St. Paul.
With the Metropolitan Council estimating the Central Corridor construction at 38 percent complete, the winter reopening of University Avenue hardly puts the finish line in sight. But it is an indicator of progress on a project that has proved a massive short-term headache for businesses in an area that is expected to reap long-term economic gain once trains start running in 2014.
Laura Baenen, communications manager for the Central Corridor LRT project, said Monday that construction work on the Minneapolis-St. Paul connector line will actually ramp up as contractors attempt to beat the coming freeze. Already, 2,218 construction workers have worked the year-old project. Even more will be on the job until the ground freezes. After that, she said, crews will not break new ground or dig into new sections of roadway.
The actual stopping point will come with the first heavy snow and freeze.
?If the weather holds, we could just keep going,? Baenen said.
Developments along the Central Corridor construction route should get traffic moving more smoothly for the winter months. Construction crews will finish reconstruction work on the south side of the Washington Avenue bridge late this week, then begin working on the north side. This, according to Met Council construction updates, will open one lane of traffic in each direction.
Baenen said the portions of University Avenue between Hamline and Emerald Street ?torn up this past spring, will be fully paved in time for winter. She said a few sections of roadway will receive final pavement overlays this week. In downtown St. Paul, some of the traffic lane shifts that have become familiar will remain in place as utility work continues.
Though the outlook is optimistic, members of the University Avenue Business Association ? a group representing businesses impacted by the construction ? are keeping the late-fall spate of work in perspective. Jack McCaan, the group?s president, said that while he welcomes the return of four-lane traffic, ongoing utility relocation, side street construction, and confusing signage will remain problems.
?That?s our big concern: the total confusion,? McCann said. ?That?s caused more of a problem than traveling east and west on University Avenue.?
On top of that, shoppers coming back to the area for the holiday shopping season will have to get used to a streetscape that looks very different than it did in 2010.
?It?s better, but you still have to make changes in your [driving] pattern,? said Bernick at Milbern Clothing.
Winter work will continue as construction crews wait for an early-April thaw to resume digging. The Met Council?s Baenen said construction will continue apace through the winter on the Washington Avenue bridge.
Along University Avenue, she said, construction workers will spend the winter months building train stations. Also under construction this winter will be the LRT line?s St. Paul Lowertown operation and maintenance facility.
Baenen could not say how many construction workers might be laid off or assigned to duties away from the Central Corridor during the winter construction slowdown, as contractors on the job have not provided those forecasts. She did say the number of workers will ?diminish? from peak summer and fall levels.
The Met Council generally does not allow the contractors on the job to comment about their work publicly.
Ames-McCrossan ? which is a joint venture of Burnsville-based Ames Construction and Maple Grove-based C.S. McCrossan Construction ? is building about three miles of the Central Corridor line in Minneapolis on a $113.8 million contract. This includes the Washington Avenue bridge.
Chicago-based Walsh is building the seven-mile St. Paul segment on a $205.1 million contract.
Source: http://finance-commerce.com/2011/11/central-corridor-heavy-construction-to-take-a-winter-break/
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