Starting after Labor Day, a City contractor will be excavating and removing buried pre-World War II trolley tracks from the center of Cumberland Avenue – a task that will require a 10-day around-the-clock lane shift plus overnight closures of the westbound lane of Cumberland for nine consecutive nights.
Southern Constructors Inc. will begin the trolley track removal at midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 6. The job is scheduled to be completed by the end of Thursday, Sept. 15th.
Along a three-block section of Cumberland, between 19th and 22nd streets, the westbound lane of traffic will be shifted. No left turns will be allowed through the three-block excavation zone Sept. 6-15, and this includes intersecting side streets with Cumberland.
Nightly, between midnight and 6 a.m., the westbound lane between 19th and 22nd streets will be closed entirely. Flag personnel will be dispatched as needed to maintain access to businesses that are open after midnight.
The eastbound traffic lane of Cumberland Avenue will remain open at all times during the project. Westbound commuters will shift to the new through lane during day and evening hours, but between midnight and 6 a.m., westbound commuters will be detoured off Cumberland to 19th Street, to Clinch Avenue and to 22nd Street before reconnecting with Cumberland.
“The decision to close a section of westbound Cumberland at night wasn’t made lightly,” said Anne Wallace, the City’s Deputy Director of Redevelopment. “However, safety is key – both to motorists and to the construction crew. It was necessary to eliminate conflicts between heavy machinery and vehicles for this phase.”
The City’s reconstruction of Cumberland Avenue is scheduled to be completed by August 2017. The existing four-lane Cumberland between 22nd and 17th streets is being remade into a safer, more pedestrian-friendly corridor with a three-lane cross section, raised median and left-turn lanes at intersections.
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.