Construction expected to impact parking at Community Center
Work began recently on a sanitary sewer project that is expected to impact parking at the Bartlesville Community Center, Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said recently. Additionally, a major storm water drainage project is set to begin in the area later this month.
“We began saw cutting the parking lot last week and will start the installation of the sewer pipe this week,” Lauritsen said. “Work on the sanitary sewer installation project will begin on Silas Street (also known as Sixth Street) and progress south to Adams Boulevard.”
Lauritsen said traffic cones will be placed on the parking stalls impacted to prevent parking in those stalls.
“This project will impact approximately 12 spaces in the parking lot, but access into and out of the lot and all other spaces will remain open,” Lauritsen said.
He said the work is underway in the grass area and that parking may not be impacted for a week or more.
“Once we get close to the parking lot, we’ll close off the west one-third of the lot — including access to Dewey Avenue — and that will be closed for approximately two to three weeks while we install the new line,” Lauritsen said.
He said access will remain from Silas Street and Adams Boulevard throughout this work.
“As we progress through the parking lot, we’ll put gravel down and open up access to Dewey and the parking stalls,” he said. “Some sort of access to Dewey should be back within a week of starting in the parking lot area.”
Lauritsen said the lights for the 66 sign, which is located in the northwest corner of the BCC property, and other electrical sources located in the west section will not have power for much of the project. Also, on March 11, BCC will de-energize the parking lot lights to facilitate the project.
Storm drain work in the area is set to begin during the last week of March or first part of April. Lauritsen said this project could have a larger impact on traffic in the area.
“Unfortunately, this could have a larger impact on the parking lot due to the location of the new pipe,” he said. “We will close off the center section of the parking — roughly 50 feet wide — while we work through this area.”
The storm water drainage improvements will start on Fifth Street and the alley and will progress south to Adams Boulevard.
“The storm drain project will start in late March or early April, depending on material supply. So we won’t be working at the parking lot until early- to mid-May,” Lauritsen said. “It will take us at least four weeks to move through the parking lot. Like the waste-water project, we’ll backfill with gravel and open up parking as we progress to the south.”
Lauritsen said once both the sanitary sewer lines and storm drains are installed, crews will come back for the pavement repairs in the parking lot.
“This will have similar closures while the concrete and asphalt is installed,” he said.
Lauritsen said the pavement repairs will take approximately two to three weeks to complete.
“I anticipate the pavement repairs starting mid June,” he said.
Both projects will facilitate the Tower Center at Unity Square project, a voter-approved community gathering space that will be constructed between the BCC and Price Tower.