A private window-replacement project and City streetscape work will close sections of West Jackson Avenue in the Old City, beginning Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 (weather permitting).

The City’s streetscape improvement project will close a 300-foot section of West Jackson between Gay Street and Sweet P’s Downtown Dive barbecue restaurant. The road will be closed for a week while crews with Design and Construction Services Inc. install a 24-inch stormwater pipe.

Motorists will be able to access the City-owned parking lot in that block of West Jackson by driving east on West Jackson from Broadway.

The work by DCSI is one of two streetscape projects totaling about $2 million that’s giving West Jackson Avenue between South Central Street and Broadway a fresh new look. Southern Constructors Inc., the contractor for the second streetscapes project, has rebuilt sidewalks on both sides of West Jackson between South Central and State Street, and that section was recently repaved. With cooler weather, street trees will be planted.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Gay Street, a section of West Jackson will be closed, starting on Monday, from the top of the ramp to State Street. Owners of the Emporium Center will have a crane set up during daytime hours through the month of September, and private crews will be using the crane to replace windows.

A walkway will be maintained on the north side of West Jackson that will allow pedestrians to safely move between Gay Street and the Old City businesses east of Gay Street.

The street will reopen each evening after work hours.

Another major public investment in West Jackson infrastructure is coming as early as next year. The antiquated ramps connecting Jackson Avenue and Gay Street will be rebuilt, bringing total City investment to modernize and upgrade Old City public infrastructure to more than $10 million.