Downtown Ann Arbor water line project adds to headache for drivers near Liberty and Fifth
A water main replacement has closed all but one lane of South Fifth Avenue at East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor.
Janet Miller | For AnnArbor.com
Work started May 16 to install a 12-inch water main along Fifth between Liberty and just north of Washington Street. The project has winnowed one-way Fifth Avenue to one lane, and is expected to wrap up in June.
The water main project adds to the congestion already created from construction of the underground parking structure adjacent to the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, which has closed the 300 block of South Fifth Avenue, south of Liberty. Construction began in February 2010.
The new main will replace an old 4-inch line, said Igor Kotlyar, project engineer for the City of Ann Arbor. The old line is undersized for a commercial area with fire suppression systems that require more volume.
“With a 4-inch line, there may not be enough volume to effectively fight a fire,” he said.
Business owners in the area say they're hurting with all the downtown construction, including the work on the Library Lot where an underground parking structure is going in.
Janet Miller | For AnnArbor.com
Kotlyar said the work would make the area more difficult to navigate for drivers.
“Every construction project makes additional difficulties for travelers,” he said.
But the timing, although not planned, could be fortuitous: “Quite a few people are already avoiding the area. There is less traffic in the area,” he said.
And the rush-hour backups from the lane closure haven’t been bad, he said.
“While it’s choked the traffic by taking away a lane, it hasn’t changed the traffic pattern,” he said.
Still, store owners in the area aren’t smiling. It’s another hit for already battered businesses, they said.
Tom Hackett, owner of Afternoon Delight, at the northwest corner of the intersection, said the latest construction project is hurting business.
It’s noisy for his sidewalk seating, he said, and the congestion and confusion keeps customers away. Since the parking structure construction began, business is off 20 to 25 percent, he said. And it slowed even more when the water main project began.
“It’s hard to get around and there’s no place to park,” he said. “This adds to the misery.”
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. The water main will extend north of Washington, and the project will eventually close east-west traffic at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington for about a week, Kotlyar said. Washington Street west of Fifth Avenue will remain open.
Janet Miller is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com.
Comments
Boo Radley
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 : 12:15 p.m.
I was driving downtown yesterday on Main Street and passed this area. There was an Ann Arbor police car blocking off Liberty at Main for this project. Now I read that pretty soon there will not be any police officers left in Ann Arbor to do those types of things. Just think of how much more aesthetically pleasing these construction areas will be once the city is putting art pieces in place to block off hazardous areas.
Bertha Venation
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 : 3:26 p.m.
Ya, Boo. I was just thinking how wonderful Art Fair will be this year. Hmmm. The sunroom overlooking the woods, and a Bud Lite sound better every minute.
Wolf's Bane
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 11:51 p.m.
I've given up driving my car into town and now strictly rely on my feet, bicycle, or motorcycle to get me into town; using anything else is just too frustrating!
CB
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 3:59 p.m.
The city can't fix the Stadium Blvd bridge over State street, or the potholes on Huron/Jackson, but they can build a huge parking structure??
Rod Johnson
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 : 2:30 a.m.
Try to keep up, Connie.
Bertha Venation
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 8:06 p.m.
Apparently so, Connie. I've been asking for Huron/Dexter to be repaved for years.
say it plain
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 3:01 p.m.
I'm just going to skip any trips downtown altogether this summer. Maybe the DDA can pay for the roads in the westside that might lead people to downtown, since the city apparently has to pay for the 'improvements' to service their new car-park/development site. The combo of streets that look like they belong in the lower-end neighborhoods of banana republic cities (and I realize I thereby denigrate banana republics ;-) ) leading in to the downtown from almost every direction... and a maze of orange barrels and reduced-lane streets in the downtown itself... and I've never so wanted to just leave this place til they figure it all out. Just, you know, never mind. Sorry downtown retailers, hope the folks at city hall take each other out to lunch *and* dinner to try and make up for the business lost to all this 'development' in a down economy!
Tom Whitaker
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 1:31 p.m.
My understanding was that utility upgrades, including water main up-sizing/rerouting, were added to the underground parking structure project by the DDA in order to facilitate a future development (up to 25 stories) that might someday be built on top of the parking structure. (Usually developers are required to install and pay for utility upgrades necessary for their own projects.) What is the total cost of this speculative work? I question the statement in the article that this 4" line is being tripled in diameter only to better serve the fire protection needs of the existing commercial area. A 4" diameter pipe has a maximum flow capacity of 260 gallons per minute. A 12" pipe has a maximum flow capacity of 4700 gallons per minute. So, while the diameter is only three times larger, the capacity is 18 times larger. Clearly this is not just a simple upgrade to meet current demand.
f4phantomII
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 1:49 p.m.
Hmmm.
DonBee
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 12:15 p.m.
You know, Hell is a very nice little town - equating it to a hole in the street is not very nice to the citizens there.
Ryan Yaple
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 8:48 p.m.
I have to agree. Hell does not have any holes in the ground. Hell also is the hometown of my girlfriend.
Bertha Venation
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 8:05 p.m.
Thank you, Don. My brother lives in Hell. The roads there are very smooth.... paved with good intentions, you know.
mr_annarbor
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 11:46 a.m.
I don't see what the big deal is. It's easy enough to avoid this intersection, and the work will be done in a month. Yes, it probably doesn't make for the most pleasant outdoor dining experience at Afternoon Delight, but how many people does that affect really? Sounds like much ado about nothing.
CPS
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 11:38 a.m.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the block on Fifth Ave *north* of Washington torn up just last summer? I know that the sidewalk was "beautified" right in front of the Bank of Ann Arbor. The City can't coordinate between departments so that businesses/home-owners in the area only have to endure ONE construction mess in a certain time frame (like once every 5 years or more, barring emergency work)???
Daniel J. Singer
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 11:12 a.m.
"already considered the intersection from Hell"? That's helpful to local businesses. I'm definitely inclined to visit the intersection from Hell.
Boo Radley
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 : 12:17 p.m.
Haven't you ever noticed how many drivers have no clue about what to do at a 4-way stop?
Epengar
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 1:51 p.m.
Indeed. It's a four way stop, how hellish is that? I'd say Huron and Seventh is far more infernal.
A2comments
Tue, May 31, 2011 : 10:27 a.m.
Choked, not chocked...