BERLIN – The town of Berlin will host a meeting for Gay Street residents to discuss upcoming infrastructure work.
On Wednesday, Feb.7 at 6:30 p.m., Berlin officials will host a meeting at town hall to provide information regarding road and sidewalk improvements as well as water line upgrades. The work is expected to begin this spring.
“We’re reaching out to business owners and residents to give them a sense of what we’re doing with the project,” Town Administrator Laura Allen said.
The work is meant to coincide with construction of a new mixed-use project on Gay Street. While officials prepared for sidewalk and street improvements early on, they realized last fall that the water line on Gay Street needed to be replaced.
“In looking at the area more closely, we realized the waterline needs to be upgraded,” Allen said. “We folded that into the project.”
The existing two-inch waterline, which is old and corroded, will now be replaced with a six-inch line as street and sidewalk improvements are being made.
At the meeting Wednesday, town staff and representatives from Davis, Bowen & Friedel will review the various upgrades planned for the street and the possible schedule for the work. Allen said they were also prepared to discuss the possibility of turning Gay Street into a one-way road once the work was complete.
“It’s not at this point part of the town’s project but we were asked to look into it,” Allen said, adding that Davis, Bowen & Friedel representatives would talk about the pros and cons of a one-way street.
It was Councilman Zack Tyndall who first suggested the concept of making Gay Street one-way last fall.
“In my mind, I see that’s a tight street,” he said at the time. “Maybe we can make that one way headed south.”
Mayor Gee Williams and the rest of the town’s council members agreed the idea was worth exploring as the street’s other improvements were underway.
The mixed-use building that prompted the town’s interest in Gay Street improvements is midway through the construction process. The two-story building, located at 15 Gay St., will feature retail and residential space.
