TRAVERSE CITY — Construction on one of the city's busiest streets will be done in time for its most hectic week.
A much-discussed $850,000 overhaul of Eighth Street between Woodmere and Garfield kicked off in April and was expected to wrap Tuesday. That means traffic will resume in plenty of time for the National Cherry Festival's opening on Saturday.
Construction was scheduled to be complete last week, but fell behind when engineers identified other, last-minute improvements, City Engineer Tim Lodge said.
About $430,000 of the project cost will be covered by state and federal money, Lodge said, including more than $200,000 in federal stimulus funds.
Business owners along the stretch chomped at the bit for construction to finish. Potter's Bakery, situated at the intersection of Eighth and Rose streets, saw business drop 50 percent during construction.
"It's been really, really tough on us," owner Kathy Potter said. "Really tough."
Down the street at iconic Round's Restaurant, Manager Kevin Whiting estimated he'd lost between 80 to 100 customers a day because of construction.
"We can't wait for it to be over," he said.
But with construction comes a new street.
"It's going to be beautiful," Potter said.
The project generated considerable debate in February and March when Mayor Chris Bzdok openly criticized Lodge for not including bike lanes in the redesign.
The city's past and current master plans either explicitly or generally call for bike lanes along Eighth and other city streets, as did a regional planning project dubbed The Grand Vision.
Lodge said several old growth trees along the corridor made widening the street impractical and altering the project late in the game could jeopardize stimulus funds.
Officials discovered it was, in fact, too late to change plans and broke ground as scheduled.
Region
Related Photos
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Workers pick up cones as construction nears completion on Eighth Street on Tuesday afternoon. The $850,000 project began in April between Woodmere and Garfield, and is expected to be open for traffic today. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
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Construction nears completion on Eighth Street on Tuesday afternoon. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
Eighth Street back in business
Traffic to resume in time for hectic festival weekend
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