As part of the city Department of Transportation's ongoing utility and street reconstruction projects taking place around Lower Manhattan’s Financial District, Reade Street received utility upgrades. Rather than a full capital reconstruction, which requires more time for crews to excavate and replace all utilities and mains, the work on Reade was expedited as a water-main installation project only, progressing one block at a time from West Broadway to Centre Street.
For more information on the Reade Street water main installation and to subscribe to the daily email update list, visit www.outreachny.com or call community liaison Elizabeth Baptiste at (212) 791-8170.
Though the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) makes every effort to keep traffic running smoothly amid the construction going on downtown, necessary roadwork and other projects sometimes require the closing of a lane, street, or sidewalk, the reversal of a one-way street’s direction, or a change in the timing of a traffic signal to accommodate detoured traffic. In any of these instances, DOT works to minimize the length of time such changes are needed.
On Reade Street, one lane of traffic was maintained throughout this phase of the project. There was occasional noise associated with the cutting of pipes, and water service interruptions that took place at night. In these instances, notices were posted on the street in the early morning hours prior to shutdown and included in the daily updates listed above.
The New York City DEP assessed the area’s water mains in 1999 and found that they were the original mains installed in the early 20th century. To keep water flowing to residential and commercial buildings in the Financial District, DEP began working with DDC and DOT to replace the mains, along with other outdated utilities and conduits housed inside the roadbeds.
The most important goal of the water-main replacement project is simple: providing local residents and businesses with a repaved street that is home to new and reliable water mains, as well as other essential utilities.
The Financial District streets are much narrower than most city streets, meaning that over the past century, as utility lines and ducts have been added below the streets’ surface, the space has grown increasingly crowded. DOT, DDC, and private companies like Con Edison have worked since the project began in 1999 to sort and organize the many utilities. After September 11, 2001, the operation was further complicated by damage to the streets’ surfaces during the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. The agencies decided that the streets undergoing water-main construction were in critical need of complete reconstruction -- adding years to the already extensive project.
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