FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fremont Avenue will close overnight between Battlefield Road and Woodland Street beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 20 as construction begins for the Battlefield Road and Fremont Avenue Intersection and Roadway Improvement project. The road is expected to reopen by 6 a.m. Thursday morning.
Approved by voters in 2016, the project will involve the widening of Fremont Avenue to five lanes between Battlefield Road and Sunset Street. Improvements will also be made at the Battlefield Road and Fremont Avenue intersection, with traffic signal upgrades and additional turn lanes.
“The overall goal of the project is to increase capacity and improve traffic flow in one of our busiest retail areas,” explains Public Works project manager Jonathan Peitz. “Widening Fremont north of Battlefield and providing an additional northbound lane is expected to help reduce the bottlenecks along Battlefield.”
Pedestrian improvements will include new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks along the east side of Fremont Avenue and a multi-use path on the west side. City Utilities will install new steel streetlight poles on the east side of Fremont Avenue in conjunction with the roadway project.
City Utilities completed preliminary electrical work in 2019, replacing deteriorating wood transmission poles with new steel poles.
Construction contractors have been working on locating utilities and relocating gas and water lines around Meador Park for the last few weeks.
The overnight closure is the first full closure of the roadway during the construction phase of the project.
“We’re hoping to limit full closures to night-time hours to impact traffic as little as possible,” says Peitz. “Motorists can still expect lane shifts and lane closures as construction progresses, but we hope to keep traffic moving and will maintain access to all businesses.”
Traffic impacts will be communicated as early as possible via public notice and social media. Digital message boards will be placed to communicate closure details to motorists.
The public can expect construction in the area to begin to ramp up in June with project completion expected in November. The estimated construction cost for this phase of the project is $3.1 million, funded through the City’s ¼-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax.
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For more information, contact Communication Coordinator Kristen Milam at 573-819-3713 or [email protected].