Construction Updates

Phase two construction was completed late fall 2015.  Read about the celebration here.

Phase three, the Civic Strip, is just getting underway.  Sign up for our e-newsletter:  corridor@syr.edu

Building the Connective Corridor complete green streetscape was a complicated civil engineering challenge. Many of our field engineers and contractors remarked that it was the most complicated construction project they had ever worked on because of the multitude of elements, and challenges associated with a construction project of this scope through a major urban core. 

Communicating construction details to property owners along the route, as well as the general community challenged us to simplify the details. Building the Connective Corridor was like constructing a seven-layer cake. Here’s the layers: 

1. Water infrastructure – water main replacements, stormwater separation, new and enhanced drainage infrastructure and other advanced source reduction measures by the City Water Department in preparation for installation of new green infrastructure that will manage 26 million gallons of water / stormwater annually across the Connective Corridor;
2. Utility infrastructure – electrical and gas relocations and upgrades, electrical vault/ headstructures and duct work, infrastructure for new, enhanced lighting, by National Grid and its subcontractors;
3. Green infrastructure – underdrains, subbase, geogrids, geowebs, bioswales, silva cells, structural soils, catch basins, storage areas and trenches, controlled release measures, tree pits and rain gardens, and many other sub-surface and streetscape measures supported through Onondaga County’s Save the Rain program;
4. Streetscape excavation in advance of reconstruction – digging through layers of existing road (some of which are 90 years old), demolition of old, cracked sidewalks, and other structures in the public right of way, clearing the way for a new streetscape from building face to building face;
5. Streetscape construction – installation of new road binder base, sidewalk base, granite curbing, new ADA accessible crosswalks, snow storage areas, structures for streetscape landscaping, bases for new, enhanced, brighter LED column lighting as well as areas for new streetscape amenities such as bike racks and benches, and laying out new parking and bike lane areas;
6. Streetscape finishing – pouring the sidewalks, laying the new pavers, installing the new lighting and street furniture, new signals and street signage, “painting it black” with new asphalt, top coating, striping and other traffic control markings, installing new Duratherm crosswalks, and wrapping up with the installation of new plantings (including more than 200 new trees that were installed as part of Corridor project);
7. Icing the cake – rolling out the new green methacrylate bike lanes as the final finishing touch.
Public art, façade improvements and lighting projects to illuminate iconic buildings became the metaphorical “candles” on the cake.

The Connective Corridor publishes e-newsletters with project updates, events and short articles of interest on urban revitalization and creative placemaking. We invite you to subscribe to the newsletters by e-mailing: corridor@syr.edu

Enjoy previous construction updates through these links:
• Newsletter 15
• Newsletter 14
• Newsletter 13
• Newsletter 12
• Newsletter 11
• Newsletter 9
• Newsletter 8
• Newsletter 7
• Newsletter 6
• Newsletter 5
• Newsletter 4
• Newsletter 3
• Newsletter 2
• Newsletter 1