admin posted on March 23, 2010 02:32
April 1 Update - Paving of Trade Street, which will occur during the night, will occur the week of 4/11. Concrete work is nearly complete.
Matthews Mint Hill Rd- first level of paving will be finished today. No work this weekend and second level will be done next week. This should take three days.
The Town is in the process of working to make N. Trade Street more pedestrian friendly. Sidewalk and crosswalk improvements, handicap parking spaces, and repaving of the street will be completed in early April – weather permitting.
The Town began reviewing what could be done to make the street more pedestrian friendly and for people to be able to more easily walk in the downtown area several years ago. A series of public meetings were held to garner input on what was needed. “N. Trade Street is used as a major artery for people who are not only traveling to downtown Matthews but also for people who are commuting to and from other cities. Approximately 18,000 vehicles travel on N. Trade St. daily. We have worked extensively to slow traffic down in order to protect pedestrians who are walking, shopping and enjoying our downtown area. We have balanced this plan with the need of motorists who are using their vehicles to maneuver around our town,” said Matthews Town Manager Hazen Blodgett.
This project was “shovel ready” – ready to go, thus, it qualified for federal stimulus dollars and Town funds will be freed up for other road projects. The work on N. Trade St. includes concrete bump outs that will slow traffic down. Several bump outs have a rolled edge that will allow vehicles to move out of the way in case emergency vehicles need to be on the roadway. The center lane will relocated for even distribution of traffic lanes. Five parking spaces have been added to N. Trade St. as part of this project. Additional spaces have previously been added on W. Charles St as part of this plan.
Matthews Mint Hill Road is being repaved. Milling and patching of the street have been completed. Repaving of the street will occur this week – weather permitting. Motorists are urged to take alternate routes during this time.
The project is environmentally friendly. The old asphalt that was removed will be recycled and the new asphalt is made using less energy and is composed of 30% recyclable asphalt materials.
Call C.J. O’Neill, Town Engineer or Ralph Messera, Public Works Director at 704-847-3640 if you need more information.