Project to add bike lanes, other improvements to Ninth Avenue to start Monday

Paving and reconstruction of Ninth Avenue between Airport Road and Hover Street are set to start on Monday. Work, which is slated to last until September depending on weather, will include widening a section of the road, adding bike lanes and a turn lane, and installing traffic calming features. 

The estimated $1.56 million project is part of the city’s annual Pavement Management Program, which is funded through the .75-cent Street Fund Sales and Use Tax. In addition to addressing the road’s aging asphalt, the project also aims to enhance multimodal transportation, specifically cycling, as well as improve cyclist safety, according to the project website.

Work to be completed by Asphalt Specialties, Co., according to a city news release, is: 

• Repaving of Ninth Avenue from Airport Road to Hover Street.

• Adding buffered and non-buffered on-street bike lanes from Airport Road to Hover Street.

• Widening Ninth Avenue between Iron Court and Wade Road to accommodate bike lanes.

• Reconstructing Ninth Avenue from Iron Court to Hayden Court.

• Adding a westbound Ninth Avenue left-turn lane at Hayden Court.

• Relocating several utility poles away from Ninth Avenue near Iron Court.

• Installing various traffic calming features, such as travel lane width reductions and radar speed display signs.

Active construction will occur over 10 to 12 weeks, according to the release. A portion of Ninth Avenue between Iron Court and Hayden Court must be reconstructed, which will cause a full closure of Ninth, according to the project website. Possible dates for the closure are not yet listed.

In the Friday news release, the city stated the closure could last up to five weeks. 

Local traffic access will be maintained at all times, according to the city, and notice of the closure will be provided in advance. 

Ninth Avenue’s narrow width also will require temporary lane closures while work is underway.

Construction will be phased to limit impacts as much as practical, but traffic impacts are expected and alternate routes are encouraged, the city stated.