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July 15, 2009: Limestone Street will be closed between Avenue of Champions (Euclid) and Maxwell Street beginning Wednesday, July 22, as the city begins a comprehensive reconstruction of the street and sidewalks, part of a plan to more closely link the University of Kentucky campus and downtown.
“There’s no easy way to get this work done. We will need the patience and cooperation of the entire community, particularly people who live or work on the Limestone corridor,” Mayor Jim Newberry said. “But in the end it will be a giant step forward for our city.”
As part of the current project on Limestone, between the Avenue of Champions and Vine streets, the city plans to add street trees, rain gardens and corridor identity markers made of limestone. These markers will be used as a means to identify Collegetown, which will link UK and downtown. Utilities will be buried along the route, and storm and sanitary sewers will be repaired or replaced. There will be wider, ADA compliant, sidewalks, and bike lanes.
Motorists will not be able to drive through the intersection of Avenue of Champions and Limestone beginning on July 22 and continuing for approximately one month. Northbound motorists on Nicholasville Road (Limestone) who want to travel downtown should follow the signage which identifies a detour route at Virginia Avenue to South Broadway. Westbound motorists on Euclid (Avenue of Champions) will take Martin Luther King Boulevard to Main Street. Motorists should plan on significant delays. There will be access for residents, employees of businesses along the corridor and for deliveries.
The work on Limestone, between Avenue of Champions and Vine streets, is expected to take approximately one year, but conditions and closures will change frequently. Regular updates will be posted on a website dedicated to the construction, www.southlimestoneprogress.com. The website will go live on July 20. Citizens with questions may call LexCall 3-1-1 (425-2255).
The overall goal of the project, which the city has been working toward since 2002, is to support the downtown area and campus corridors by encouraging students, faculty and staff from University of Kentucky, and eventually from Transylvania University, to come downtown. “A key step is making the city blocks that separate downtown and the two campuses more pedestrian and bike friendly,” Newberry said.
Newberry strongly urged citizens to continue to support the businesses in the construction area. “There will be pedestrian access for the businesses through most of the project, and we are working to address parking availability,” the Mayor said.
The Limestone project is part of Phase 1 of a Streetscape Master Plan, which also includes changes along Vine and Main streets and in Cheapside Park. “Essentially, the plan provides the infrastructure to allow our downtown area to continue to become more vibrant,” Newberry said.
Last week, the Mayor appointed the Limestone Reconstruction Commission, made up of South Limestone business owners, property owners, and residents. Weekly meetings will be held with the commission to ensure that attention is focused on the priorities of residents, businesses and property owners in order to strengthen the overall outcome of the project and mitigate the impact of construction, whenever possible.
The city has hired a project coordinator, George Milligan. Citizens with questions should call LexCall 3-1-1 (425-2255). The contractor is ATS Construction, a local company. The cost of the Limestone work is estimated at $13 million.
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