Main Street Rebuild starting this week
The City of Kingsport held a preconstruction meeting on Monday with the general contractor for the Main Street Rebuild, along with city and state transportation officials, to make sure everything is ready for construction to begin.
As a result, a work order has been issued for the rebuild project to begin immediately.
“We’re pleased to announce that this long-awaited and important project will be getting underway this week,” said Public Works Director Michael Thompson.
Work will begin on the Kingsport Area Transit Service side of Main Street, proceeding westward toward Clinchfield Street. The first thing the public will see are the utility companies marking their utilities along Main Street and construction signage being erected.
The Main Street Rebuild project aims to improve and beautify one of the main gateways into downtown Kingsport.
Over the past century, the soils underneath Main Street have weakened, and any new asphalt placed on the road simply fails within a few years. As a result, Kingsport has committed to addressing this problem by completely rebuilding the road.
According to the plans, the contractor will dig down, remove the existing road structure and back fill it with stone to produce a good, stable base. The project also calls for placing telephone and cable lines underground, relocating power lines to the opposite side of the road and enhancing the roadway with landscaping, bulb outs, and stamped brick crosswalks.
With funding from state and federal sources covering 80% of the cost, the $20 million project will take approximately two years to complete.
“As we move along with construction, we’ll be working specifically with the business owners and residents along Main Street to ease the burden of the project and communicate often with them,” Thompson said. “We want to fix the structural issues and make Main Street better and more vibrant.”
To stay updated on the project, be sure to like and follow the Main Street Rebuild page on Facebook and Instagram or visit www.kingsporttn.gov/mainstreet to sign up for the newsletter.
