By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
The 100 block of East Fisher Street has a new two-way traffic pattern and a guarantee that more construction along the street is just around the corner.
Beginning Monday, East Fisher Street went from being a one-way street to a two-way street in the 100 block, where the city has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in streetscape improvements.
On-street parking has been eliminated on the north side of the 100 block to allow enough room for the two-way pattern.
A new mast arm with traffic signals also has been installed and is operating at South Main and Fisher streets for the westbound traffic approaching the intersection from the 100 block of East Fisher.
“Everything so far has flowed fairly smoothly,” Traffic Engineer Wendy Brindle said Tuesday.
One problem has been that eastbound cars, used to the one-way pattern, are still creating two lanes at the South Lee Street stop sign, Brindle said.
The city will be removing the stop sign on the left side and changing some markings to help address that problem, she said.The changes aren’t finished for East Fisher Street.
On Tuesday, Salisbury City Council approved the sidewalk closing and elimination of parking in front of the former Friendly Cue pool hall, which Piedmont Players has purchased with plans to make it a children’s theater.Wagoner Properties expects to begin demolition and construction within about two months. The project will take about a year.Besides the loss of the sidewalk and parking in front of the building, Bill Wagoner also received permission to close a sidewalk and travel lane on the South Lee Street side of the building for the duration of the project.
Brindle said traffic could be shifted to the east to maintain a two-way flow on South Lee Street.But there will be an estimated four-month period when the project will require a complete closing of the 200 block of South Lee Street adjacent to the building.
During that time, an oversized crane will be brought in to take off the old roof and assist in building a new one.
As for the front facade, it will be completely removed and rebuilt with recycled brick from 1925.Wagoner explained the demolition must be outward instead of inward and, in an effort to recycle materials, it will be more of a taking-apart process than a tearing-down one.
Materials such as concrete block and bricks taken from the old facade will be segregated into various piles next the building, which is why the sidewalk and 8-foot-wide parking lane are needed.After demolition, the construction will require extensive scaffolding.Wagoner said he would provide protection to East Fisher’s new brick sidewalk and street during the renovations and will be responsible for repairing or replacing any bricks damaged during the project.Councilman Bill Burgin asked Wagoner whether there were any possibilities that the sidewalk or parking could be made available on weekends or when crews weren’t working.”We’ve been pretty hard on Fisher Street for awhile,” Burgin said. He predicted council members will hear complaints from citizens if the sidewalk and on-street parking are closed for extended periods of time when no work seems to be going on.
Wagoner said it would be difficult to continuously reopen and shut down the area in front of the old pool hall or find a way not to close South Lee Street for several months. He judged that often during construction crews will be working on weekends.Burgin pressed him to make every effort to minimize the impact on Fisher and Lee streets.
Wagoner said one of his concerns is finding places for his construction crews to park because the pool hall site has no available parking.