Finally, the Road Is Ending for Chambers Street Construction

The last phase of work on Chambers Street lies east and west of Church. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The seemingly endless Chambers Street reconstruction project, which has disrupted street traffic, pedestrians and businesses since the summer of 2010, will finally come to a close this April.

The $24.4-million project to replace two 19th-century water mains, along with a slew of other utility work, was originally expected to finish in the summer of 2013. But faced with Superstorm Sandy, unexpected repairs to a gas main and other holdups, the project has dragged on. The construction initially progressed two blocks at a time, but community complaints about disruptions to traffic prompted the city’s Department of De­sign and Construction to limit the work to single-block segments.

The project’s final segment of underground work, east and west of Church Street, will be completed early this month, John DeLucia, the director of street reconstruction at the city’s De­partment of Transportation, told a Com­munity Board 1 committee last month. Then, the workers will temporarily restore the pavement with a non-permanent asphalt. In April, the street will be repaved and free of all barriers, he said.

“The water main is in [and] they’re just finishing up whatever utilities,” DeLucia said. “And then it becomes two-way traffic, like they were never there.”

Here is a rundown of two other Lower Manhattan street projects:

• The Hudson Street water main project, which began in 2010 and has involved replacing or reconstructing century-old water mains beneath Hudson Street from Hubert to Leonard, is expected to finish in June, DeLucia said.

The workers have two more steps to go: They must relocate utilities to allow them to place the last piece of a 48-inch water main at Hudson and Worth. Then they will pave the street, DeLucia said.

(It won't be long, after the Hudson Street project is completed, that at least five years of street work begins in the fall on the Worth Street Reconstruction Project, to take place in one-block segments between Hudson Street and Park Row.)

• The Broadway reconstruction project has involved replacing aging facilities along Broadway from Ann to Rector. It was originally set for a 2017 completion date, but is running well ahead of schedule, DeLucia said, though he did not say when it would finish.

The sections of Broadway from Liberty to Maiden Lane, and from Maiden Lane to John, will be done by mid-March. Once those areas are complete, work will begin between Ann and Fulton, according to DeLucia. Work is ongoing in the section from John to Fulton, which he said is expected to be completed in June. South of Liberty, all work is completed on both sides of the street and will soon proceed from Liberty north to Vesey.