(BLOOMINGTON) – The City of Bloomington continues to advance infrastructure projects that enhance economic vitality, environmental sustainability, safety, transportation, and quality of life, including local jobs during the recession.
Two new parking garages being constructed are generating the economic benefit of hundreds of local jobs. As of last week, 195 individuals have been employed in the construction of the Trades District Garage and around 30 thus far at the recently begun Fourth Street Garage, with an anticipated total of up to 500 individuals to be employed by both projects’ completion. Webcam video, including time-lapse footage, may be monitored at each project’s site from the links above.
The new Trades District Garage, located between the Showers City Hall building and the B-Line Trail, will add 350 spaces to the inventory of parking spaces downtown upon completion in spring 2021.
Concrete work is being completed this week for the structure’s parking areas, with final touches being applied to vertical crash walls and miscellaneous areas. The foundation for commercial and other public areas of the structure has been poured and columns are being installed to support the structural steel and walls. Delivery and installation of the precast brick exterior are expected to begin in October, on-time fabrication, and weather conditions permitting. Tenth Street may be closed periodically between Rogers and Morton Streets throughout construction to ensure safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.
Construction of the replacement Fourth Street Garage has been underway since mid-July, with foundations poured and vertical concrete support columns being installed. To manage traffic into and around the site and increase safety, the City has directed the construction team to install advance signage, high visibility indicators for the south entry into the garage site, and barrels at the southwest corner of Third and Walnut Streets. While the sidewalk on the east side of the site is closed, sidewalks around its other sides remain open to the extent that pedestrian passage is safe. As parking decks are formed and poured in coming months, delivery of concrete will entail some traffic interruptions, which the City and the construction manager will seek to minimize.
Scheduled for completion in summer 2021, the Fourth Street Garage will replace the former 352-space garage with more than 500 new parking spaces of different varieties (accessible, compact, regular, and electric vehicles), as well as new City Parking Management Offices, a bicycle parking depot, and commercial space, and will activate adjacent pedestrian spaces. Both new garages will be the first in Indiana to achieve Parksmart certification, a sustainability credential.
More information about current City-led infrastructure projects is available here. When encountering improvement projects, drivers are asked to travel slowly, cautiously, and distraction-free through the construction zone and be attentive to lane changes for their safety and that of the workers.
