Chris Weatherford, a project manager for Downtown Mall rebricking gurus Barton Malow, recently told C-VILLE that the excavation and demolition work taking place along the southern portion of the Landmark Hotel should be completed by August. Which means that, for at least another month, the intersection of Water and Second streets will continue to look like this:
The "bump out" at Water and Second streets eliminates one crosswalk and merges westbound traffic with a southbound turn lane
The wooden and concrete barriers that extend into a west-bound lane of a half-block of Water Street is what Weatherford calls a "bump out," and should also be gone by August. He added that he is yet to receive any complaints from pedestrians abouts dealing with the bump out.
"If we want [people] to cross the street, unfortunately we force them to cross the street at Third and come back across," says Weatherford. "They can [then] cross at Second on the Live Arts side. So it’s one extra crossing of the street." The only complaints Weatherford has received concern blocking Second Street, between Live Arts and the western side of the Landmark, as a safety precuation during demolition.
When the sidewalk across Second Street is completed, Weatherford says it will resemble the "bulb out" sidewalk near the Melting Pot restaurant located on Water and Fifth streets. He also added that electrical and communication lines were recently moved to a new duct bank at the site.
What do you do when the sidewalk ends? Leave your comments below.
