Street Resurfacing and Natural Gas Improvements update

Downtown work in the citywide street resurfacing program will occur this week on Tarragona Street, Palafox Street, and Ninth Avenue as crews complete needed manhole and valve adjustments. Drivers should anticipate the potential for daytime lane and street closures.

Street milling and resurfacing work is slated for:

Lee’s Alley, from East Gonzalez to East DeSoto Street.
North Devillers Street, from West Wright to West DeSoto Street.
North Guillemard Street, from East Wright to East Maxwell Street.
North Palafox Alley, from East Gonzalez to East DeSoto Street.
North Reus Street, from West Moreno to West Blount Street.
West Jackson Street, from North A to West Devillers Street.
West Mallory Street, from North Palafox to North A Street.
West Moreno Street, from North A to North Palafox Street.

Intermittent day and nighttime lane closures will be needed to perform the work.

The street resurfacing program is milling and paving approximately 1800 blocks (or 119-miles) of streets throughout the city. Many of the streets are in serious need of resurfacing, and none have been milled and re-paved in at least a decade.

Street resurfacing protects the significant investment taxpayers have made in the city’s transportation infrastructure system. It removes old, deteriorated, and cracking asphalt and replaces it with new, fresh layers that protect the rock and soil foundation beneath the roadway.

Delaying milling and resurfacing work inevitably creates the need for more expensive and inconvenient roadway repairs. Industry estimates indicate that reconstructing a roadway can cost more than three times as much as milling and resurfacing it. Milling and resurfacing is often accomplished and traffic returned to normal in a single day. Conversely, street reconstruction requires total street closures and detours that can last weeks or months.

Pensacola Energy construction crews will also continue working this week throughout the city to replace more than 46-miles of aging natural gas distribution lines. For the most part this work takes place off the roadway and does not impact vehicular traffic. However, pedestrians may at times encounter closed sidewalks.

All construction schedules are weather-dependent. Work may be postponed, delayed, or re-scheduled in the event of inclement weather.

Residents and property owners are reminded that cars parked on the street must be removed before work can begin. Construction personnel are going door-to-door 24-48 hours in advance of work to remind property owners of the parking restrictions. Vehicles left on the street will be subject to relocation.

More information on the street resurfacing program is available by contacting the city’s engineering consultant, Atkins, Inc., (850) 380-9188. Questions about the natural gas distribution improvements can be referred to Pensacola Energy, (850) 474-5300.