Cambridge work scheduled
12 December 2014A contract to replace aged water and waste water pipes and makeover Empire and Duke Streets in Cambridge has been awarded to Downer New Zealand with work set to begin on January 12.
The work will involve digging up streets and replacing water and waste water pipes that are close to 100 years old. A number of issues have already been caused by the pipes and given their age, those issues are only going to get worse.
Landscaping and roading improvements for Empire Street will be piggy-backed off the pipe replacement project. Work will include replacing the grey concrete pavers at the southern end of the street with red clay pavers, providing more angled parking at the northern end, installing a mini-roundabout at the intersection of Alpha and Empire Streets, planting gardens and installing a raised pedestrian crossing.
Council's project engineer Carl Smith said the work has been timed to avoid the shopping lead-up to Christmas and take advantage of more settled summer weather. Work will take 18 weeks and includes a wet weather allowance of 10 days. Some of the work will be done at night when shops are closed. Where possible it will be done in stages to limit the impact on one area.
Mr Smith said council recognised the work would be disruptive in the CBD and said staff were working already working alongside retailers to minimise disruption.
One of the things retailers really want us to do is encourage shoppers to consider parking in different areas and not just give up because there's no car park right outside a shop. There are a number of other parking areas in Cambridge and we'll be increasing signage and the profile of those carparks to encourage shoppers to use them.
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