Downtown Grand Forks drivers will be seeing some changes on First Avenue North because of two construction projects, the city said Monday.
The biggest change will be the closure of the street at the site of the old Civic Auditorium, where an apartment building is now going up. The parking lot across the street will also close.
That'll happen starting Wednesday and will last until whenever construction crews are done with exterior work.
An addition to Central High School starting in the spring will mean the permanent removal of all on-street parking on that block.
Another apartment building is going up in the civic parking lot in the spring, but so far there's been no request for street closures related to that.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jane Williams, the city's traffic engineer, said the contractor for the Civic Auditorium apartment requested the street closure so construction vehicles can move freely without potentially running into traffic. The fact that it's a three-story building also requires the closure, she said, because things that fall from three stories up can drift far.
As for the Central High addition, she said, it'll just stick out farther into the street, leaving no room for any on-street parking.
Williams said she doesn't expect much disruption. Not many drivers use First Avenue to get into downtown so, even if all use DeMers Avenue, they wouldn't add too much to the volume, she said.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
