by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Commuters and pedestrians may find the going a little rough on downtown’s streets and sidewalks over the next two weeks.
Public Works is doing some last-minute housekeeping before the Feb. 6 Super Bowl. The City will spend about $500,000 to repave broken sidewalks in anticipation of about 100,000 visitors the game is expected to draw downtown over the next four weeks. City workers are also using Florida Department of Transportation funds to repave and repaint lanes on Ocean and Main streets.
“It’s just part of some general tidying up we’re doing around the City,” said Public Works spokesperson Marcy Cook.
Over the next three weeks, downtown workers will likely also see City workers trimming trees, clearing brush, planting trees and bushes and dropping mulch. The sidewalk work should be done in the next two weeks said Cook. The landscaping will wait until the end of January.
The work on two of downtown’s busiest streets shouldn’t affect the downtown commute. Lanes will be partially closed at night over the next two weeks, but drivers during morning and evening rush hours won’t be bothered, said Cook.
City workers have been pounding the pavement downtown for weeks identifying hazardous sidewalks and marking them with orange slashes of paint. A sidewalk with a break that juts more than three-quarters of an inch from the surface is defined as hazardous by the City and must be replaced.