Willow Street, a key route through downtown Mount Airy, is back on the local transportation grid after being closed more than 10 months because of a construction project at the former Spencer’s industrial site.
“It is now open,” City Manager Barbara Jones said of traffic once again being allowed on the street in recent days.
Although the closure only affected a section of Willow from Virginia Street south to Oak Street, it forced motorists accustomed to taking that route crisscrossing the center of town from Franklin to West Lebanon streets to employ alternate means.
The use of detours forced by the closure of the heavily used street proved inconvenient at times.
And apparently not everyone has gotten the memo about its reopening, with only light traffic noted there Wednesday morning on the newly paved surface where lines are still to be painted.
Willow Street had been closed since mid-July of last year in conjunction with the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners awarding a $1.75 million construction contract to J.G. Coram Co. for infrastructure improvements involving utility, street/sidewalk and other work.
That project was undertaken to accommodate a $7.8 million, 65-unit apartment complex recently completed on the old Spencer’s site along Willow Street which was bought by the city government in 2014.
Mount Airy officials had expected the street to be reopened by late last fall.
However, they said in December that unforeseen problems regarding the infrastructure project would delay that until sometime this spring.
These included extra work to stabilize Willow Street than was anticipated, bad weather and encountering what former Public Works Director Jeff Boyles has said are the usual pitfalls when excavating older parts of town such as the former Spencer’s property.
“It’s like an archaeological dig,” Boyles, who has since retired, said of what can be unearthed. “We found some surprises.”
Interim Public Works Director Mitch Williams had planned to reopen Willow on May 15, according to the city manager, but that was delayed until last week.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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