Downtown area closure for major street and sidewalk repairs will
last four months
Gilroy – At long last, the worst of it is here.
A four-month closure of downtown Monterey Street will begin Monday morning, when work crews start fencing off a two-block area for major street and sidewalk repairs.
For more than a year, city officials have talked about the streetscape project, which will bring a more spacious street with angled parking and wider sidewalks with new street lamps and trees. But first, they must weather seven months of traffic detours and closed walkways.
Not everything will happen at once, with road and sidewalk work spread across different parts of the year.
The first step involves blocking off both lanes of Monterey Street – between Fourth and Sixth streets – and tearing up the asphalt before laying a new road, according to City Transportation Engineer Don Dey. That work is expected to last through late July, at which time both lanes of Monterey will re-open as work begins on sidewalks. Throughout the roadwork portion of the project, three crossing points will remain open along Monterey at Sixth, Fifth and Lewis streets.
“There will clearly be day to day, week to week issues that we will do our best to resolve in everybody’s interest,” Dey said. “It is a construction project and there will be some difficult times.”
Businesses have already suffered a one-lane closure along the two-block stretch of Monterey as PG&E workers installed new gas lines. After two months of work, utility crews last week cleaned up and re-opened Monterey Street to traffic.
“We loved it being open this week. It was quite a tease,” said Sue Shalit, owner of Sue’s Coffee Roasting Company at the corners of Fifth and Monterey streets.
While business has been tough in recent months, Shalit preferred seeing the project get started early. It was scheduled to begin April 10 but Golden Bay Construction, the San Carlos company hired to do the work, informed officials Thursday they could begin next week.
Like other business owners, Shalit is frustrated with the city’s failure to install detour and promotional signs promised months ago.
“Where are these signs?” she asked. “I’m really upset. Monday they’re closing the street and not a single sign is out there.”
Dey said the city “had a supplier problem” and is working to get specially designed promotional signs through Golden Bay in coming weeks. In the meantime, the company will use standard traffic signs to route motorists to parking.
“They’re not the ones we were hoping for,” Dey said, “but we will have signs up next week.”
Initial work, scheduled to begin between 9 and 10am Monday, involves blocking traffic along Monterey with six-foot high chain link fence. Workers will line sidewalks with four-foot high plastic fencing before they start tearing up the asphalt and median along the road.
The initial closure will stretch from Fourth to Sixth streets, though workers will eventually block off Monterey up to Third Street once they replace a water line.
The Streetscape project represents the third and final phase of major road and sidewalk repairs along Monterey Street. The first two phases between Eighth and Sixth streets involved unexpected delays as workers unearthed old, uncharted utility lines and other obstructions. But officials predict the last phase will be the most disruptive because the area between Fourth and Sixth streets contains the largest number of businesses.
“I send out an appeal to please, more than ever, try and shop and do business in downtown Gilroy,” said Mayor Al Pinheiro, who has placed the area’s renewal at the top of his agenda. “Downtown needs everyone’s help to sustain itself these next few months, which undoubtedly will affect them tremendously. They hopefully will come out of this with a beautiful downtown and reap the benefits afterward.”
Why You Should Care
The overhaul of Monterey Street is a major challenge for businesses, though city officials say the survivors of the year-long construction project will enjoy the benefits of a revitalized downtown.
Weekly Updates
Business owners will have a chance to get weekly updates
on construction from City Transportation Engineer Don Dey
and representatives of Golden Bay Construction, the Streetscape contractor. The meetings take place 3pm every Wednesday at the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce conference room, 7471 Monterey St.
Detours and Parking
– Motorists traveling south on Monterey Street have a sense of the detours that will be in effect over the next four months.
– Detours at the intersections of Sixth and Fourth streets will route drivers west, toward two large parking areas along Eigleberry Street.
– The first lot offers daytime access to Monterey Street through a paseo in the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce building, between Sixth and Fifth streets.
– The second large lot also lies along Eigleberry, between Fifth and Fourth streets.
Also Online
For the latest updates, visit www.gilroydowntown.com
