A renewal project is half-way complete and making strides towards improving the safety and durability of the canopies overhanging downtown walkways.
The canopies along the right side of the 500 block have been repaired along with a section along the right side of the 400 block of East Elk Street.
“Age and weather have taken a toll on the roofs of the canopies,” said Elizabethton Street and Sanitation Manager Danny Hilbert.
The roofs atop the canopies are being replaced, but in some places, workers have encountered additional obstacles, like drainage pipes that have to be rebuilt.
“I don’t think these have been repaired since the ‘80s, and extensive work hasn’t been done since they were put in as part of the urban renewal project of the ‘70s,” said Hilbert.
In the coming year, Hilbert said they plan to finish the right side of the 400 block. The left side of the 500 block needs extensive work, he said, especially because of issues with drainage pipes.
“Some of the drains on the canopies that come down through the columns sometimes get stopped up and water will not drain, so we have to have them dismantled, drained, replaced and then rebuilt,” said Hilbert.
They have already replaced four or five of those this year, he said.
To complete the 500 block and its drainage issues, they will have to budget more money, which Hilbert said was part of the original plan when budgeting for the project began in the 2013-14 fiscal year.
The first year required $50,000, then $90,000 for this past year, and in the coming budget, they will request $115,000.
“We were planning to add $25,000 to the budget request each year,” he said.
Hilbert said there is also the potential of finding more work that needs to be done once repairs begin on the additional canopies, and City Manager Jerome Kitchens said two more drainage pipes have been identified for reconstruction.
Hilbert expects the budget appropriations to be approved, noting that city officials understand the value of these repairs.
The project is estimated to be completed in two years, but a cost estimate is not available at this time. Thus far, it is about $3,000 under budget at a total cost of about $137,000
The difference that people may notice is the canopies will no longer leak, thereby preventing freezing and making downtown sidewalks safer.