Crews begin construction on Marion corridor project

People living in Marion will be seeing more orange cones and detour signs.

Construction officially begins on Marion's Central Corridor Project Monday, with crews starting work on the first phase of the renovation project.

“It's going to be really great just to see the project started," said Marion Planning and Development Director Tom Treharne. "It's been a long time coming.”

Phase one includes reconstructing Sixth Avenue from Ninth Street to 13th Street. Construction crews will begin moving in large equipment and shutting down a portion of Sixth Avenue on Monday morning.

"It's going to be a little bit disruptive," said Marion city manager Lon Pluckhahn. "Traffic is going to have to get used to not being able to go through that street for a while. So for us it's going to be about managing the traffic flow around the area."

The work marks the beginning of the first of several construction phases planned for the corridor project. Eventually the goal is to shift some traffic away from Seventh Avenue and onto Sixth Avenue. City leaders believe it will reduce crashes and unclog the heavy traffic on Seventh Avenue.

By the end of the summer, people living in Marion will see new pedestrian amenities and a wider Sixth Avenue near the Marion Public Library. City planners are asking people living in or driving through the area to avoid it as construction begins.

"A lot of the local traffic during the day and a lot of people that leave city hall that go to the library and know their way around Marion will take Sixth Avenue," Treharne said. "Those folks are going to be more surprised than the folks that travel through to work on their way to work and commute."

The street closures will change along Sixth Avenue over the next four months as work continues on the first phase. Marion engineers said road closures will begin Monday morning at 7 a.m.  A two-block area of Sixth Avenue will close from Eighth Street to 10

^th

Street for the first month of construction.