SALISBURY — Main Street in downtown Salisbury will experience some disruptions starting later in August and continuing for more than a year as a result of a downtown sewer rehabilitation project and the Reimagining Main Street Project.

The sewer rehabilitation project has been ongoing since 2018 and Salisbury-Rowan Utility’s latest project has focused on the areas around the hospital, said SRU Interim Director Jason Wilson during the Salisbury City Council meeting on Tuesday. The next phase of the project will begin in late August and will impact Main Street between Cemetery and Monroe streets.

Wilson also provided the timetable for the project. After the work begins later this month, SRU will do manhole work and point repairs through October, which Wilson said will involve closing down lanes of travel and providing street detours. SRU will then perform sewer lateral cleanout installations through mid-November, which Wilson said will require workers to shut down on-street parking a half of a black at a time.

“It’s going to disrupt traffic. We know that, we’re going to try to minimize that. We’ve got plans in place to detour traffic, how we’re going to close lanes when we can. All of the street closures will likely occur at night, we’re coordinating that with the (N.C. Department of Transportation) to be able to minimize the impacts to businesses and residents downtown as well as traffic flow. We do not have any plants to disrupt access to anyone’s front door, whether that be residential or business,” said Wilson.

SRU will pause the work from mid-November until February in order to avoid impacting the holiday season. After the pause, SRU will perform sewer main and lateral cured-in-place pipe with plans to be fully finished by spring.

Wilson said that the project was being implemented to effectively extend the lifespan of the downtown infrastructure. The cured-in-place pipes, where a liner or “new pipe” is added to the interior of older or damaged pipes by a method that avoids digging into the street, could add 30 to 40 years worth of lifespan to some of the piping, he said.

“This is rehabilitating existing infrastructure, we’re not tearing it out and replacing it in this case. There’s good bones there and we’re going to utilize those. We’re going to put a new pipe into an old pipe and make use of what’s already there. And it’s our continued reinvestment in our existing infrastructure, which we’ve been emphasizing over the last year or so. This is an effort to do that and I think it’s beneficial from that standpoint,” said Wilson.

Wilson said that SRU would be working to communicate the closures and disruptions through partnerships with Downtown Salisbury and with the city itself as well as simply going door to door and speaking with people.

“You hear that commitment to educate and communicate with downtown property owners and businesses to make sure they’re aware, because this is going to cause some disruption. We’re going to do our best to limit that impact, but understand that it will cause some disruption,” said City Manager Jim Greene Jr.

For more information on the rehabilitation project, contact Wilson at jason.wilson@salisburync.gov or 704-216-7553.

Downtown Main Street project update

The city council also heard an update during the same meeting on the Main Street project that will impact downtown starting next spring.

“We’re also having discussions about implementation strategies. What’s the best way to implement this project? We don’t want to necessarily tear up Main Street all at one time, so can we move section by section and how do we make that work? How do we minimize impacts to business owners, how do we keep their shops open and those kinds of things? So we have a lot of discussions about different options,” said Gary Warner, who is the project lead for ESP Associates, the contracted consulting firm.

The city recently hosted information sessions that allowed anyone interested to meet with city officials, engineers and designers to voice any questions, comments or concerns that they had. Warner said that as a result of that meeting changes had already been made to the plan, from small changes such as moving a trash can because a business owner noted it would have been in front of their door to making sure that a driveway was not closed that a business owner said was vital.

He also said that they are still tweaking the number of parking spaces that would be present after the project. Originally, the plan called for 190 spots in the area of Main Street between Horah and Kerr streets. The plan has since been changed to provide a total of 207 spots in the same area.

Warner also noted that the implementation strategies and design plans that were presented on Tuesday were only the “90 percent” plans, so ESP and the city are continuing to change details within the project.

“The key word in this project is patience. I get a lot of questions like, ‘When are you going to start digging?’ You can see a tremendous amount of work and we’re not done yet. Gary said we’re about 90 percent of the way through, but we want to make sure we’re continuing to work with the downtown businesses and property owners and that we’re collaborating internally and with our partners like the DOT. So, still a lot of work to be done and we’re going to need to be patient,” said Greene.

Councillor David Post asked if it would be possible or if there were any examples of other municipalities providing rent subsidies or other grants to downtown businesses that were disrupted by the construction.

“As I mentioned at the public meeting to some of the business owners, we will have to close your front door at some point to actually build the sidewalk out there. While the concrete cures and the pavers get set, your door may be closed for a period of time. We have worked with communities where we’re going to close your front door for a month and we’re going to pay you rent or we’re going to pay a stipend to cover employee costs, that sort of thing. But, it really varies from community to community,” Warner said.

Greene pointed out that the city already offered grant programs for downtown businesses, so they could use that preexisting funding infrastructure. He also said that staff was trying to be creative in coming up with answers, pointing out ideas such as hosting more downtown events aimed at local businesses or providing more public transportation specifically for downtown businesses while parking is affected.

The comment period for anyone who wants to share concerns or comments or ask questions is open until Aug. 20. Information about the project, answers to frequently asked questions and the information on how to submit feedback can all be found at salisburync.gov/mainstreet.

The downtown project has been in the works since at least 2019, when the city began asking for community input. In 2021, the master plan for the project was adopted and the first phase of the project was completed, with restriping of downtown Main Street being performed in fall of that year. During that time, the city also applied for and received a federal grant providing approximately $7.4 million in funding with a 20 percent, or approximately $1.85 million, local match for the second phase.

The second phase is what is being discussed and planned currently and will provide upgrades to the infrastructure, street and sidewalk areas along Main Street between Horah and Kerr streets. Proposed upgrades currently include increased on-street and handicapped parking, improved pedestrian lighting, improved streetscape amenities such as sidewalk bump outs and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, outdoor dining areas and the replacement or addition of smaller amenities such as bike racks, benches, trash cans and trees.