Seven Islands Pkwy-Phase I
Hi everyone-
Back with another update already. We'll be taking a look at the first part of construction on the north-south arterial discussed in the previous update, that will connect between Main Street and Maridia Way.
Seven Islands Parkway Project
This project will build a new north-south route between the Main Street/Railroad Street couplet (Highway 231) and Maridia Way, providing another route between suburban North Lenox and the city center, in addition to providing a "grand entrance" to the Sealey University campus. The new road will be known as the Seven Islands Parkway, named after the "mini-archipelago" in the Lenox River, situated just to the west of the new roadway (and just north of downtown).
The new roadway will consist of 4 travel lanes divided by a median. It will be constructed along the current alignment of Oak Way, Maple Drive and Wheatstone Terrace, with a bridge crossing Maridia Creek. The project faced some opposition among residents neighboring Wheatstone Terrace, however, the city's engineering team carefully worked with stakeholders to design an alignment to minimize impact to existing residential areas while still providing the throughput needed to improve traffic flow in this area of the city. The alignment avoids all existing structures and the roadway will be designed for 30mph speeds.
The first segment shown as part of this update will show construction on south of Maridia Creek.
The following maps will illustrate the project area before:
And what it will look like after completion:
Here's the existing intersection of Oak Way with the Main Street/Railroad Street couplet (Highway 231) (facing north):
The rather indirect "jog" of Oak Way and Maple Drive, which all traffic to the university must travel through now (facing north):
Construction equipment has been set up at the site of the new bridge (facing north):
Excavation has begun for the new, more direct alignment from Highway 231 up to the bridge site (facing north).
A temporary alignment for Oak Way has been built while the new alignment is built (facing north).
Work on the new alignment (facing north).
In order to get around some of the weird intersection geometry in the area, a 2-lane roundabout will be built, connecting the new Seven Islands Parkway to Maple Drive and the university, as well as the old section of Maple Drive/Oak Way. (facing north)
The new bridge has been more or less built, and the south segment is more or less open to traffic (facing north).
And that does it for this update--we'll take a look at the north half of the project next time.
-Alex
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