Here’s why Pocatello’s Center Street underpass is temporarily reopening
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POCATELLO — A historic underpass will reopen temporarily this weekend.
The Center Street underpass, which was constructed nearly 90 years ago and leads to the heart of Historic Downtown Pocatello, will reopen on Sunday. While much work has been completed on the project, there’s more to be done and it’s expected to close again this spring.
“It’s the heart of our historic downtown, and so we really do need to get this right,” said Becky Babb, project manager for the underpass.
The city has not been able to complete all of their objectives in the underpass project due to delays in the review and permitting process with Union Pacific Railroad. While it had completed the the first round of submissions with the railroad covering the project’s design, the second round of submissions for the construction process took longer to be approved.
“That’s a little bit more specific sometimes, about how exactly (the contractor) is going to do what is on that design,” Babb said.
Because of these delays, the city decided to move forward with the construction work that could be completed, and then open up the tunnel for the winter.
The street was newly paved on Thursday, and then striped on Friday. While the road is now operational, Historic Downtown Pocatello requested that it stay closed until after “Welcome Back Bengals Street Fest” on Saturday.
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The city has also replaced a waterline and repaired cracked walls and spalling on the concrete. The asphalt and railing on the south side pedestrian walkway was removed due to safety issues, and will remain closed until the project is complete.
Once the underpass closes again and work resumes, crews will still need to repair the abutments, replace the retaining walls and sidewalks leading to the pedestrian tunnels and relocate the stormwater system pump controls to higher ground.
Additionally, they will construct a pedestrian bridge over Center Street in historic downtown, which Babb said would improve safety and walkability.
The city is thankful for the patience of commuters and businesses as it has worked to repair the long-standing structure.
“We recognize that businesses have been impacted and commuters have been impacted,” Babb said. “It’s definitely the heart of our historic downtown.”
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