With Merced’s Main Street direction change done, work continues on Bob Hart Square
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- Merced completed traffic direction change on West Main Street, now east to west.
- Downtown upgrades add bike lane, 20 new parking stalls and ADA accessibility features.
- Bob Hart Square project hits 60% completion, with full finish expected by October.
With the Merced Main Street directional change complete, crews are continuing to work on finishing the installation of crosswalks as well as the construction and renovations to transform Bob Hart Square as part of the city’s ongoing project to revitalize and improve Merced’s downtown infrastructure.
The $1 million street improvement and roadway directional change project included work to West Main Street and 18th Street to seal cracks, perform a slurry seal and even included resurfacing sections of West Main Street that were deemed too damaged for basic patching. The direction of traffic now flows from east to west along a stretch of West Main Street from Martin Luther King Jr. Way to O Street.
City of Merced Spokesperson Jennifer Flachman said crews poured the remaining sections of crosswalk located at the intersection of Canal and West Main streets on Thursday, July 24. Flachman said that area is expected to be fully opened by the end of this week.
A section of Canal Street between West 18th and West Main streets remained closed Wednesday afternoon and a closure affecting a section of West Main Street from K to M streets and a portion of Canal Street is scheduled to take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 1, allowing crews to pave a portion of Canal Street and the intersection with West Main Street.
Diagonal parking spaces have been installed along West Main Street and reflect the directional change. The city said it has also installed diagonal parking along one side of 18th Street between K Street and M Street.
Flachman said the project has not only expanded parking, it has improved accessibility downtown. The project has added 25 standard parking stalls, 18 motorcycle stalls, a new bike lane and four handicap accessible parking stalls that are compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Overall, downtown parking availability has increased from 295 parking spaces, to 315 parking spaces throughout West 18th street and on West Main Street, Flachman said.
Work to Merced’s Bob Hart Square continues. Previous work included installing a 16-inch water line from 16th Street, beneath Bob Hart Square and West Main Street where it ties into an existing line. The roughly $3.5 million Bob Hart Square project includes updates to the square such as an extended plaza, additional seating areas, the installation of trees and a stage.
Due to the project’s construction and extended plaza, entrances to two parking lots that were accessible from Canal Street near West 16th Street have been eliminated. These entrances have been replaced with the addition two new driveways located along West 16th Street.
The project is about 60% complete, Flachman said. Once the installation of various underground utilities are completed, crews will then begin to install irrigation and pour the concrete including walls for anything erected above grade such as planters and walkways in the plaza as well as the stage. According to the city, some adjustments have been made such as the use of various materials as a result of tariffs and increase costs, but there have been no changes to the design.
City officials said the project is still expected to be completed by October.