Construction crews worked Tuesday to help improve safety for motorists and cyclists alike along a stretch of street in the downtown area.

A section of East Doe Avenue between Armed Forces Drive and East F Street was shut down early Tuesday morning and is scheduled to reopen today after construction and painting projects are completed.

“We are putting two concrete medians in,” Elizabethton Street and Sanitation Manager Danny Hilbert said Tuesday at the construction site. “It does two things: It will slow traffic down, and it will provide a safe area for people on the (Tweetsie Trail) as they cross the road.”

The new concrete medians act as buffers in the middle of the road where the Tweetsie Trail crosses Doe Avenue on its trip through downtown. With the new design, Hilbert said cyclists will be able to cross the first lane of the road when traffic is clear and then have a safe place to wait until the second lane is clear and they can cross it.

When the road reopens, the medians won’t be the only change motorists will notice.

“The intersection of Armed Forces Drive and Doe Avenue will now be a four-way stop,” Hilbert said, adding that should help to improve the safety of the intersection.

“There will be signage and paint markings so people can see the changes that have been made,” he said.

Closing the one-block section of the road did not appear to be causing any difficulties, Hilbert said, adding the short detour onto East F Street then to Armed Forces Drive was simple for motorists and only a few homes were affected.

“We’ve touched base with the folks who live here and they didn’t have any problems with it,” he said.

Hilbert was not sure what time today the road would reopen because workers would have to wait for the concrete to set, as well as install signs and paint traffic lines. The road should be open in time for church services tonight at Trinity Baptist Church, he said.