Parking Noted for Upcoming Construction Downtown Evansville

Last night I attended a meeting at Hagen Insurance where the plan for the downtown reconstruction that begins April 2nd was discussed with business owners. I will have some audio of this meeting on the Observer later. The parking situation was reviewed and the info shared was as the city web site describes:

"FREE Parking available downtown!
During construction of Main Street, the city's four "behind Main Street" parking lots will still be open.
* behind the Grange building
* off the 100 block of W. Church Street
* off Maple Street, just south of Main St.
* off Montgomery Court, just north of Main St.
Even though you can't park on parts of Main St., you'll have easy access to downtown businesses.
Please patronize local businesses! "

Mr. Tom Pfefferkorn of Foth Infrastructure and Environment, LLC, went over the phases of the project as well as the communication plan. Dan Wietecha went over this plan in city minutes recently. Here are his comments from the recent redevelopment meeting:

"Main Street Construction. Wietecha stated that the contractor for the underground utility work would begin mobilizing the week of April 2 and construction would begin April 9. Sidewalks would remain open throughout the construction. The construction would be sequenced with three distinct phases: west of Madison, Maple and west of Maple, and east of Maple to the bridge. Each phases would be finished and re-opened to traffic before proceeding to the next phase. The project is scheduled for completion July 2. Laying the brick street and replacing the sidewalks would begin shortly thereafter and is expected to take all summer. The Downtown Task Force will continue promoting the downtown businesses during the construction. "


I believe that although this will be difficult for local businesses, Evansville has the right contractors, the right supervision, and a communication plan that will work. The advertising plan for the parking is being worked on as far as traffic coming by Evansville. Foth has proven themselves very effective in both the Hwy 14 project as well as the recent downtown project.

The Observer will be drawing attention to relevant news from the city web site as we proceed. Stay tuned.