The end of the road is near for Northwest 16th Avenue lane closures.
All four lanes of 16th Avenue between Northwest 22nd Street and Northwest 34th Street should be opened by the end of May, said Brian Singleton, an Alachua County transportation engineering manager and project manager.
Singleton said open lanes will be shifted from the south to north side of the road this week.
Between Northwest 22nd Street and Northwest 31st Drive, the reconstruction serves to remove clay underneath the road, which caused bumps and cracks in the asphalt.
The repair is part of a larger county project affecting Northwest 16th Avenue from Northwest 13th Street to Northwest 57th Terrace. The entire area will have lane closures on certain Sundays and week nights between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. until the project is finished in August, Singleton said.
The final part of the project will involve giving the whole stretch a new layer of asphalt.
The construction project, which includes sidewalk widening and repair of the retaining walls, cost about $7.5 million, which Singleton said comes from gas taxes and impact fees.
Alisa Woofter, owner of Alternatives Global Marketplace in Millhopper Shopping Center, said the construction has affected her store’s business.
The median outside the plaza’s entrance was changed, Woofter, 33, said, which may have made it confusing for customers to get to the store.
“The road was really bad,” she said, “so I’m glad to see it fixed.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 4/7/2015 under the headline “Construction on NW 16th Ave. nearing end”]
