Blog: City Blog

Update: I-275 Business Park Access Improvements Project Making Major Progress

Work is progressing handily on the City's $5.5 million Interstate 275 Business Park Access Improvements Project.

It's an underused commercial corridor that's getting a major overhaul. The aim is to encourage new business investment and create jobs.

Check out this photo, courtesy of CDM Smith, the project designer, handling the oversight of construction for the City. It's the view from Marion Street, looking south.

You can see the work that has started in upgrading Marion Street, as well as the newly paved Blackstock Avenue Extension in the center of the photo.

This photo also serves as a place-setter: You notice the proximity to downtown, as well as to Interstate 275.

Crews with Jones Brother Contractors got started last summer on the project, and it is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

The project included building a 1,100-foot-long extension of Blackstock Avenue, connecting West Fifth Avenue and Bernard Avenue. The 1,600-foot-long section of Marion Street between Bernard and Baxter avenues is being improved, along with a 650-foot-long section of Baxter between I-275 and the railroad tracks by Second Creek.

The new section of Blackstock and the upgraded Marion will feature two 11-foot-wide lanes, curb and gutter, 5-foot-wide sidewalks and a 10-foot multipurpose trail from West Fifth Avenue to Bernard Avenue. Marion is being realigned from Dameron Avenue to Baxter Avenue.

There also will be minor improvements to the intersections of Fifth Avenue and Blackstock Avenue; Marion Street and Bernard Avenue, and Marion Street and Baxter Avenue.

This corridor has vacant tracts and is strategically located next to an interstate, but it’s underdeveloped right now, in part because of the poor street connectivity. This project will correct that.

The first layer of pavement has been placed on the Blackstock Extension. A greenway will be constructed along the east side of the road.

Work has also started on Marion Street, which is currently closed between Bernard and Dameron. The closure will allow contractor crews to begin with utility and stormwater upgrades, as well as regrading and rebuilding the street.

Stormwater pipe installation and utility upgrades are also underway on Baxter Avenue.

Posted by evreeland On 15 January, 2021 at 5:33 PM