IMG_4948

Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 2.28.59 PMIt’s getting harder and harder to navigate Lowest Greenville without dodging bright orange cones and heavy machinery, and it sounds like it’s going to be that way for a little while still.

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“I think they’re shooting to wrap up in May,” says District 14 councilman Philip Kingston.

This is phase two of street improvements for Lowest Greenville. Back in 2011 the city poured $1.3 million into improvements that included wider sidewalks, potted plants, bike racks and on-street parking.

The first phase only covered a small slice of Greenville from Bell to Oram, so the second phase will finish up both ends from Belmont down to Bell and from Oram all the way to Ross.

“It more than doubles the size of the improved area,” Kingston says. “And in addition, I found some more money to fix the intersection at Greenville and Ross. I have not seen design work yet, but I want to improve pedestrian, bike and traffic safety there. All three are bad there.”

Although there might be a few minor changes, there will be no major infrastructure changes to the section of the avenue that was improved in 2011.

The 2011 construction was kind of crippling for Lowest Greenville business owners, so Kingston says he tried to be more delicate this go-round.

“I conducted three meetings with the Lowest Greenville Collective and Public Works to make sure they have input on the timeline what could be done to make the construction less harmful to their businesses,” he says.

“Staff responded to that pretty well, and people seem to be pretty happy with what they’re hearing about the schedule, so hopefully this turns out in a way that doesn’t hurt businesses. We really tried to put some planning around this to make sure it’s done in the most compatible way possible.”