Eau Claire and Altoona city officials are inviting public comments about a collaborative plan for a road construction project. | Yutaka Seki/PxHere
Eau Claire and Altoona city officials are inviting public comments about a collaborative plan for a road construction project. | Yutaka Seki/PxHere
Eau Claire and Altoona city officials are soliciting public comments about a plan that would see the two join forces for a major road construction project that includes rebuilding Fairfax Street between Hastings Way and Spooner Avenue.
Though the project isn’t slated to commence for at least another year, top city officials are seeking opinions now, given the gravity of the situation.
“It’s in bad condition,” project design engineer Ross Johnson told WEAU recently. “It’s a patchwork of a lot of bad joints and potholes and there’s a lot of patching and it’s difficult to drive, it’s rough and there are certainly those issues. It’s primarily the pavement.”
Johnson hinted that he can’t wait to see the end results.
“It is really changing the character of the street from more just a through arterial and now it’s more of a neighborhood flavor where you have the walking access, the trail, the bike lanes, so it sort of changes the flavor of what that street could be,” he said.
Johnson said such changes could include altering the amount of space available for both pedestrians and vehicles.
“We have included sidewalks along the west side of the project and a multiuse path along the east side of the project,” Eau Claire deputy City engineer Leah Ness said.
Ness noted that crews will also work on utilities underneath the road, including ripping up the pavement. Such lasting changes explains why authorities are seeking input from community members about the once-in-a-30-year project.
“Public feedback is very important to the project,” she said. “We do take the comments that we receive and try to implement them and weigh them into the decisions with the project moving forward.”
“They’ll think about what this proposal is, and they’ll think about what is it about this proposal that should be changed,” Johnson said regarding public feedback.
The cost of the project will be approximately $1.5 million, with 80% being funded by federal grant money, Ness said. The stretch of road impacted by the construction could be closed for up to six months.
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