The city has finished its work replacing a water main on Fifth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor, but construction in the area will continue for another week or so as the Downtown Development Authority repairs the street and replaces the sidewalk.

The DDA took over the street restoration because the block of Fifth Avenue between Washington and Liberty streets is included in a DDA streetscape plan for the area. Workers will replace the sidewalk and curb on the east side of the street, then repave that side of the street.

"Normally we restore the streets ourselves," said Homayoon Pirooz, head of project management for the City of Ann Arbor. “Since they had a contract, we both felt that was a better way of finishing up the work.”

Mark Bergren, a consultant managing the project for the DDA, said concrete work is scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week, with street paving scheduled for July 11. The paving will require closing the Washington Street and Fifth Avenue intersection, he said.

The east side of the street will be completed before the Ann Arbor Art Fair begins July 20, Bergren said. After the art fair, crews will move to the west side of the street for sidewalk and curb replacement. Workers will try to minimize the impact on traffic, but some lane closures will be necessary.

Similar streetscape work has already been done on Fifth Avenue north of Washington Street in the area of the new Ann Arbor Justice Center and along Division Street, one block to the east.

The new 12-inch main replaced an old 4-inch line, which was not adequate for a commercial area with modern fire suppression systems.

While this traffic headache will be going away soon, a much larger one remains. Fifth Avenue south of Liberty Street will be closed for several months yet as work on the DDA’s new underground parking structure continues.

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