Some movement has been seen in a nine-month impasse that has kept two downtown roadways closed since the collapse of a building, including a construction crew appearing on the scene Friday.
However, one lane of North Main Street remained blocked to traffic during the weekend along with East Oak Street being fully closed at its intersection with North Main. Officials hoped the streets finally might be reopened Monday with the start of a new work week.
The fact that any progress at all has been witnessed there can be viewed as a breakthrough after many weeks of little or no activity since the imposing Main-Oak Emporium suffered a partial collapse last July 5.
Since then supports have been in place to stabilize the structure until repairs can be made, which have jutted into the streets and caused both to be barricaded with fences at that location. This has hampered traffic and adversely affected businesses near that corner along with posing problems for downtown events.
The Friday appearance by personnel of Sasser Construction Co., the contractor for the project, had come after City Manager Stan Farmer provided a positive update on the situation during a Mount Airy Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday night.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed, they told us a couple of days ago that the supports should be coming down tomorrow, on Friday,” Farmer said of those in charge of that effort.
“If they come down tomorrow (Friday),” the city manager added Thursday night, “they will move the fence out of the street up against the sidewalk so the lanes of Main Street will be open.”
Although this did not occur Friday, Farmer projected a tone of optimism that light might finally be visible at the end of the tunnel.
The closure has been accompanied by the Main-Oak building’s owner, Mt. Airy One, LLC, of Durham, being fined $100 daily since April 7 until both streets are fully reopened, which Farmer says is in the offing, based on his contacts.
While he was anticipating the streets to soon be totally cleared of the struts and other obstacles, that won’t be the case with the sidewalk situation and the need for scaffolding at the site.
“We still have to have the sidewalk blocked off in front of the building and along the side until the scaffolding arrives,” the city manager reported. He explained that this will be the type of scaffolding seen in big cities which people can walk under while work is taking place.
“So until that arrives next week, that fence will be there, but it will be against the curb and all the lanes will be open,” Farmer advised Thursday night.
“So we’re almost there.”
Securing a building permit to allow the repairs to begin also has been a lengthy process.
On April 6, when officials decided to levy the $100-per-day fine, Mayor Jon Cawley said the city government had run out of patience over the closures.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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