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Downtown Construction Crosses Main Street

Jessica Bair/SUNCOAST

CREWS WORK MONDAY to restore north Adams Street with temporary pavement so patrons of businesses in downtown New Port Richey can use the roadway. The work is part of the Missouri Avenue drainage project, which has slowly progressed in the last couple of months. Business owners and patrons alike complained that the construction has inconvenienced them.

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By Jessica  Bair | The Suncoast News

Published: December 13, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - The $2.17 million drainage improvement project that has frustrated many downtown business owners and inconvenienced many of their patrons will finally cross over Main Street.

Construction work has begun on the south side of Main Street, along Adams Street, and will continue all the way up to Missouri Avenue.

Last week, Steve's Excavating and Paving crews installed an underground drainage pipe that closed the busy downtown thoroughfare for several days.

Crews then began working on a concrete box, on the north side of Adams Street near Main Street, that keeps old city utility lines and newly placed storm-water drainage lines separate, says Tom O'Neill, the city's public works director.

The box was expected to be complete on Sunday, Dec. 9, O'Neill said Friday.

In addition, the Clearwater-based construction company has finished laying the first layer of temporary asphalt and curbing on Adams Street, between Central and Florida avenues. It is performing similar work on the section of roadway between Florida Avenue and the alley behind Christina's Restaurant.

O'Neill expects this phase of the drainage project to move much faster than the first half. The slow pace of the initial phase sparked protests from downtown business owners who said the disruptions related to the project were driving away customers

"We don't anticipate any closing of Main Street, as not to create additional problems," O'Neill said Friday.

In the next two weeks, the intersections of Florida Avenue and Adams and Main streets should be completely restored to their preconstruction condition.

In the meantime, "We're out to find a way to minimize inconvenience to business owners and motorists," the public works director stressed.

The project is meant to relieve chronic flooding problems within the downtown district and surrounding areas.

The improvements include the installation of a storm-water collection system along Missouri and Nebraska avenues and a storm-water filtration device on Adams Street.

Funding for the storm-water project includes $1.15 million from a city public works reserve account. The city also received a Community Development Block Grant and a grant from the Southwest Florida Management District.

The entire project, which was slated to be complete in October, will now stretch into next year.

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