Fourteenth Street plaza, roundabout completed

The landscaped roundabout that is the centerpiece of the plaza at the east end of the Frank K. Martin Memorial Bridge has been completed and is open to traffic, city Traffic Engineer Doc Dorsey said.

The side that opens onto Front Avenue has yet to be made open to traffic, but Front has new road striping and fresh blacktop at its northern end. Front, from 13^th to 14^th streets, has been closed for several years and the land has been used as a construction staging area for several downtown projects, including whitewater. The property on both sides of Front from 13^th to 14^th and that stretch of Front Avenue itself is owned by the W.C. Bradley Co., and will eventually be developed.

The new striping on Front was put down because the city had a striping contractor in the area working on the 14th Street project, Dorsey said.

City Engineering Director Donna Newman said the city is working with the Bradley Co. to get an agreement for the city to use the existing Front Avenue roadway.

Newman said she hopes to reopen Front to traffic, “hopefully within a month.”

Planning Director Rick Jones said when the city does reopen Front, it will not be as a finished product at first.

“We’re not going to be putting in curbs and gutters until we see what kind of developments are going in,” Jones said. “We don’t want to spend all that money putting them in, and then see someone come in and take them back out.”

The city and TSYS are planning a joint dedication ceremony for the new plaza and the restored area where the Mott House was before it burned. The dedications will be at 10:30 a.m. July 15, near the site of the Mott House.

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Fourteenth Street plaza, roundabout completed."