Main Street's Makeover Takes Big Step Forward

click on drawings to expand

This diagram shows the new sidewalk and street design for Main.

Phase 1 - November 2009 - May 2010

Phase 2 - June 2010 - July 2010

Phase 3 - August 2010 - October 2010

Phase 4 - November 2010 - May 2011
Diagrams by American Structurepoint
(posted 8.19.09)

The Speedway Redevelopment Commission continues to hone in on Main Street with the hopes of starting construction by late 2009 and completing it by Spring 2011.

SRC member Nancy Lawrence indicated that revisions and details of the plan would be discussed with Main Street business owners. She did not say what the revisions would be or how they would differ from the plan presented on August 17 by American Structurepoint during the SRC's meeting.

The "Main Street Typical Section" plan calls for a 22 ft sidewalk on the west side and 10 feet of parallel parking. The two traffic lanes will be 12 feet wide, with 18 feet of angle parking along the east side. A two foot barrier will separate cyclists riding on the eight foot bike lane from the street. The east side will have a five foot wide green gutter and a ten foot sidewalk.

Plans call for the construction to be carried out in four phases, starting this fall and finishing in May 2011. Traffic will be detoured through the residential streets to Auburn during construction. The construction schedule revolves around the 500, 400 and Moto GP races.

If this particular plan is carried out, the front door of 1255 Main Street could open onto the sidewalk. Praxair would lose about 12 feet of space across the entire width of its property.

As for now, executive director Scott Harris declared Main Street's 72 inch combined storm and sewer line "functioning" for redevelopment. At the June 13 town council meeting, he discussed the storm and sewer separation plan to replace the 72 inch main. He said more meetings were required because the current separation plan did not have enough capacity to handle the adjacent neighborhoods. He said an engineer walked the 72 inch line and saw deterioration.

American Structurepoint Consultant Will Lyon explained the 72 inch line will have two options listed in the bid package, one for total replacement; the other to insert a slip line.

American Structurepoint has added additional environmental designs to capture storm water run-off from Main Street. The street's east side will have green gutters to trap storm water, with plants that can thrive on large amounts of water saturation.

Ron Fisher inquired about the pavers on the east side of the street, noting that the proposed Central Utilities Complex many need lines to send hot water to Allison Transmission.

American Structurepoint consultant Shane Burkhardt explained they needed to balance the system with pervious pavers and green gutters due to the amount of water runoff as the reason pavers are not planned on the east side.

The SRC also agreed for the third time to allow the Motegi kids to use the lot at 1045 Main Street to park cars to raise money for their trip to Japan.