The construction of the City’s trail system along East Jones Bridge has experienced several significant and unavoidable delays. The goal was to finish this project with minimal adverse impact on the community, pedestrians, and children walking to school. Unfortunately, the 8-week summer break was not enough to overcome delays in utility relocations and material procurement. Several gaps existed in the alignment that involved utility companies having to move their infrastructure. They are required to relocate their own equipment and facilities, and their own work schedules conflicted with our construction schedule. The good news for today is that those utility relocations have been completed and those gaps in the new path have been filled.
Presently, there are only two gaps in the construction. One is at Broadgreen Drive at the corner where there was an original stormwater flume. That flume must be replaced with a storm drainpipe, and that material is on backorder and has been difficult to expedite. The other gap is at the crossing of Farrell Creek. The new bridge is being manufactured now, but unfortunately; a few weeks of work are necessary to prepare the abutments of the new bridge. That necessitated the removal of the original bridge. To accommodate pedestrians over the next few weeks while that work is underway, temporary three-way stops with stop signs, flags, and advanced warning signage will be installed at both East Jones Bridge Road intersections of Waterside Parkway and Hallbrook Drive. These temporary measures will allow for crosswalks to be installed at these new three-way stops so that pedestrians can safely navigate around the bridge location over the stream.
The project will be completed as quickly as possible. The City’s number one goal is to finish the work and open this new community amenity as soon as resources and material procurement will allow. We want nothing more than to finish the work and allow the community to return to normal with a brand-new multi-use path to enjoy.