GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Progress is being made on the $5.1 million construction project to reconstruct a portion of Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids.
The City of Grand Rapids is working to reconstruct about a half a mile of roadway on Plainfield Avenue between Knapp and 3 Mile Road.
Work started in May on the northbound side of Plainfield and the reconstructed northbound lanes reopened this week. Work is now underway on southbound Plainfield Avenue.
"There's quite a bit of underground work that's happening and associated with this project," said Tim Burkman, Grand Rapids City Engineer.
Burkman tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE the project includes water main replacement.
"We are installing two new water mains to serve the area and also replacing the lead service lines that exist in the project corridor, about 47 of them," Burkman said.
Burkman expects work to wrap up near the end of August. Back in May, we spoke to businesses impacted by the project.
The owners of the Choo Choo Grill, located at the intersection of Plainfield and Leonard, say they were doing the best they can to make it through these disruptions.
"It's surely a huge inconvenience for us, our sales are down oh randomly from 25% to 50%, and you can take a hit like that maybe once in a while, but you really don't like to," said Richard Mack, owner of the Choo Choo Grill. "It's like another COVID basically."
The intersection of Plainfield and Leonard has officially reopened which allows customers to enter Choo Choo Grill again without any problems.
Burkman says the city has installed specific directional signage to direct drivers to businesses as the city understands any construction is an inconvenience.
"We certainly appreciate the patience of drivers as they navigate the area and try to keep the workers in the construction zone safe," he said.
The project will also include pedestrian crossings being built into the project to accommodate people safely crossing the road.
The goal of the crossings is to direct pedestrians to cross in an area that also alerts motorists to the presence of pedestrians in the travel way.
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