By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
If 56th Street is one of your favorite routes to take to the RiverTown Crossings or to Maple Hill Golf Course, be warned: starting July 9 you will need to find a different route.
It is around July 9 that 56th Street will be closed between Ivanrest Avenue and Byron Center Avenue for reconstruction that includes the road being widen to three lines.
“The addition of the left-turn lane has really helped us be able to put in a traffic light at 56th and Ivanrest, which has been long over due at that intersection,” said Russ Henckel, assistant director of the city’s Department of Public Works. Currently the intersection is a four-way stop. Without the left turn lane, it hindered the city in putting in the traffic signal, Henckel said.
Along with the widening of the road, on the north side, a regional pathway of a 10-foot sidewalk will be constructed and on the south side, a standard sidewalk of five feet will be constructed.
Regular traffic will be rerouted to 52nd Street and truck traffic will be rerouted to 44th Street.
“Out of all the road work that we have for the summer, the 56th Street project probably will have the most impact on drivers,” Henckel said.
The reason beinging is that the road will be totally shut down to through traffic (it will be open to local businesses and residents) unlike road resurfacing projects where a lane is maintained during a project to allow for traffic flow.
The City of Wyoming has a pretty extensive resurfacing program with this year focusing on a number of the city’s neighborhood roads, according to Henkel. A couple of the bigger resurfacing projects for the City of Wyoming are the west mile and a half of 44th Street from Burlingame to Clyde Park avenues and Michael Avenue from 28th Street to Prairie Parkway.
Bids for the city’s resurfacing projects just went out with the Wyoming City Council expected to review and approve final bids at its July 2 meeting, Henckel said.
Total cost for the 56th street reconstruction is around $2.4 million which includes the city’s portion of $630,500. According to city staff, the cost does not include the city’s engineering and other expenses, which will bring the total project to about $3 million. The city will pay for its portion of construction costs out of its Capital Improvement Fund.
