The schedule for overnight pavings along a three-block section of Cumberland Avenue has been adjusted to include Friday night and early Saturday morning, Aug. 5-6.
The series of pavings – involving the future westbound lane of Cumberland and closures of one-block sections of 19th, 20th and 21st streets north of Cumberland – initially was to have taken place over three consecutive nights. The first paving of the future westbound lane of Cumberland from 21st Street east toward 22nd Street was done Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but the next two pavings were rescheduled to Thursday and Friday nights.
From 9 p.m. tonight (Thursday, Aug. 4) until 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 5, North 20th Street will be closed between Cumberland and White avenues. Crews will pave the westbound lane of Cumberland from North 20th toward 21st Street, as well as a short section of North 20th that connects with Cumberland.
While North 20th is closed overnight, motorists may use 19th or 21st streets as alternative routes. Cumberland will remain open to both westbound and eastbound traffic.
Then, from 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, until 6 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, North 19th Street will be closed between Cumberland and White avenues. The westbound lane of Cumberland will be paved from 19th Street toward 20th Street. Cumberland will remain open, and 20th and 18th streets are alternate routes.
While the paving work is an incremental small step in the City’s overall $17 million reconstruction of the seven-block main stretch of Cumberland Avenue, the work will give the Cumberland businesses and their patrons a better glimpse of what the new-and-improved Cumberland will look like.
The new asphalt is replacing a gravel lane, so the entrances to businesses in these three blocks are being improved.
But apart from the smoother paved entrances, stakeholders and enthusiasts for a more pedestrian-friendly and better-functioning Cumberland will, by this weekend, be able to more easily visualize the finished streetscape – the new westbound traffic lane, the wide new decorative sidewalk, and the concrete silva cells, where new trees will be planted next year.
The complete project will be finished by August 2017. Utilities have been upgraded from Alcoa Highway to 17th Street, and the existing four-lane Cumberland between 22nd and 17th streets is being reconfigured to a three-lane cross section with a raised median and left-turn lanes at intersections.
An earlier phase of work on the western end of Cumberland focused on improving traffic flow between the Alcoa Highway ramps and 22nd Street; that phase finished at the end of 2015, on time and under budget.
More information is available at www.CumberlandConnect.com, on the Cumberland Connect Facebook page, facebook.com/CumberlandConnect, and on the Cumberland Connect phone app. Or text VFL to 313131 to get text messages on the most current traffic updates.
