More roads are reopening along the Sun Link streetcar line, and crews are working faster on the big project.
"We are actually starting to gain a little speed and get things done a little quicker," said project manager Jesse Gutierrez.
Crews are working longer hours, working weekends and finding fewer utility conflicts beneath the surface of the streets, he said.
Construction of the streetcar line is 38 percent complete, city transit director Carlos De Leon told the Regional Transportation Board on Thursday.
Construction is "on schedule and on budget" and, "We're about a year away from opening the project," he said.
DOWNTOWN
On Congress Street, "We've made tremendous progress in the last month," De Leon said.
People are also reading…
Parts of Congress have been closed since April, but one lane re-opened Friday to local traffic between Toole and Scott avenues.
Work is continuing between Scott and Church avenues.
Starting Wednesday, the intersection of Congress and Stone Avenue will be closed nights for utility work.
In mid-November, attention will turn to Broadway. It will be completely closed between Church and Stone avenues, with a detour around the work site. Work on that segment has been delayed several times.
FOURTH AVENUE
The last sections of work on Fourth Avenue should be done before the Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair, Dec. 7-9, De Leon said.
Sections under construction now include complex sections of curved rails and switches.
Excavation is beginning at the intersection of Fourth and University Boulevard. And work is under way at the intersection of Fourth and Eighth Street, where the streetcars will turn into the maintenance yard.
The team recently reopened Fourth between Sixth and Seventh streets, and Fourth is open between Sixth and University Boulevard.
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Preliminary utility work begins Tuesday on the two-block section of Park Avenue connecting the Main Gate entertainment district with the north side of the University of Arizona campus.
The work will be done late at night and will take a couple of weeks, Gutierrez said.
That stretch of the project will be done in February.
Crews will pave the intersection of Second Street and Mountain Avenue this week, Gutierrez said. Once that intersection is done, maybe by the end of the week, all of Second Street between Park and Cherry avenues will be open.
Did you know?
Funding for the $196.5 million Sun Link streetcar project comes from several sources, including $75 million from the Regional Transportation Authority and $69 million in federal grants.
Contact reporter Becky Pallack at bpallack@azstarnet.com or 573-4346. On Twitter @BeckyPallack.
