COLUMBIANA CORNER Road work to be finished by the end of the month
Motorists who use Southeast Boulevard in Salem will need to be patient for a few more weeks, says Joe Julian, city service director.
Crews are putting the final touches on a $520,000, city-funded project designed to improve portions of the popular thoroughfare. Fixes include new paving and curbs.
Completion is expected by month's end, Julian said.
The project, which started in early spring, necessitated closing off parts of Southeast Boulevard to all but local traffic.
The street serves as a route for many motorists looking for a quick way to travel between the city's commercial district along East State Street to South Lincoln Avenue, one of Salem's primary north-south routes.
With most of the site preparation work done, construction crews have been laying concrete block for Salem's $9.5 million community center.
Although the 50,000-square-foot, two-story building has been described repeatedly to area residents, center director Eric Green says many are still expressing surprise at the size of the structure now that it's actually being built near North Ellsworth Avenue.
A fall 2002 opening is planned.
XContributor: Norman Leigh of the Vindicator Salem Bureau.