ROANOKE, Va. – After years of construction, the 10th Street improvement project is nearly done.
The stretch of 10th Street between Orange Ave. and Williamson Road is now completely paved, and crews finished striping the road on Friday.
The Virginia Department of Transportation, which is managing the project, now estimates 10th Street could reopen to thru traffic on or around the week of Jan. 6. Incidental work on the project is expected to continue for several weeks.
An earlier estimate expected 10th Street to finish construction by the end of the year. VDOT is reducing payment to the project contractors $2,500 a day for missing the original deadline of opening at the beginning of December.
Although 10th Street is not fully open to through traffic, neighbors such as Norma Jean Hargrave are already using the road to get around.
“This way is beautiful now," said Hargrave, who lives on 10th Street. "It’s smooth, the lines are placed nicely, and I feel comfortable driving through it now. It makes the neighborhood look much better.”
Work on the second phase of the 10th Street improvement project began in 2017 was expected to end in late 2019