SOUTH BEND — Colfax Avenue is getting a face lift, but the nearly five-month long project may cause some inconvenience for drivers, diners and dwellers of the heavily-traveled route into and out of downtown.
The road will be closed for utility work and streetscape projects broken into three phases that began April 13 and will continue through early September.
“The primary goal is to provide additional pedestrian safety and amenity elements to Colfax,” said Tim Corcoran, director of planning & community resources for South Bend. “And also repave the street from Colfax Bridge to Eddy Street.”
According to a press release, the updated infrastructure includes “a new multi-purpose path, new traffic signals, new sidewalks, raised intersections at Niles Avenue and Sycamore Street, a raised crossing at the East Race Trail, decorative lighting and trees.”
In 2023, the city undertook the similar LaSalle Avenue Streetscape Project, also designed to to slow traffic speed and create safer bike and pedestrian facilities. That project narrowed LaSalle east of the river to two travel lanes with a center left turn lane and added a protected bike lane on the north side of the street, bump-outs, on-street parking, decorative lighting, landscaping, and raised intersections at the stoplights at Niles Avenue and Hill Street.
When does the work take place?
The intersection of Niles and Colfax avenues closed Monday, April, 13 for AEP utility work.
The first phase of the Colfax Avenue Streetscape Project beins Monday, April 20, with the closure of Colfax from Gintz Avenue, west of the East Bank Trail, to Hill Street through July. According to Corcoran, the East Race Trail will get a pedestrian crossing across Colfax that is almost identical to the pedestrian crossing on East Lasalle Avenue.
“At all times, there will be access to properties during the construction of the streetscape,” Corcoran said. “So, while it might be a little more difficult to get to some of the restaurants or businesses, there will always be a clearly sign-posted direction to get you to those businesses.”
Phase two will begin in July and is from Sycamore Street to Gintz Avenue. In September, phase three will include repaving Colfax from Sycamore to Eddy .
“Phasing out the project allows us to sort of manage the overall scope of the construction project in a way that tries to minimize impacts to residents and businesses,” Corcoran said.
Detour route and timeline
The detour route for the AEP work and all three phases of the Colfax Avenue Streetscape Project takes drivers from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Eddy Street via East Lasalle Avenue.
The whole project is expected to be completed sometime in September. The project aims to include safer traffic patterns with updated bike- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.
Bridge to be replaced
Later this year, in a project unrelated to the Colfax Avenue streetscape, St. Joseph County plans to rebuild the Colfax Avenue Bridge over the St. Joseph River at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Although a timeline for this project has not been released, Corcoran suspected it may start sometime in late summer.
Email Tribune staff writer Juliane Balog at jbalog@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Colfax Avenue Streetscape Project gets underway east of downtown
Reporting by Juliane Balog , South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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