NEWS
City cuts ribbon on State Street work
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Also by Darryl Schnell:
- Crowley to ALRC: drop drink specials (October 20, 2005)
- Mayor veto on Overture possible (October 20, 2005)
- Building commission rejects 9-story proposal (October 20, 2005)
- In-Depth: Changing the face of Badger fans (September 4, 2006)
- 'Sconnie Nation' a big hit at UW (September 7, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Phase I of State Street Redesign complete (September 7, 2004)
- Fire Department fights for prevention (October 8, 2007)
- Blue-ribbon day (September 26, 2006)
- Board approves State Street Phase II (January 20, 2005)
- City plans for Overture Phase II (April 13, 2005)
by Darryl Schnell
Monday, October 10, 2005
Though construction on the exterior of the Overture Center for the Arts is not yet finished, more than 40 fire trucks cut the ribbon to open the 200 block of State Street Sunday to celebrate the end of Phase II of the street's construction.
The ribbon-cutting celebration coincided with the Dane County Fire Chief's Parade, featuring classic and current fire trucks as well as candy Sunday afternoon.
Despite the completion of State Street work, construction on the Overture Center remains unfinished due to the tardy arrival of certain building materials.
"We finally received the granite from Houston," Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said of the lagging completion. "So the black granite planters on the Overture side of State Street are going up, and then there will be a fountain installed as well."
Verveer said the Overture project would not be finished for another couple of weeks and the center's new season is set to begin in early November. It is not certain whether construction on the exterior of the building will be complete by then.
Although construction is not completely finished, business owners are excited about the opening of the 200 block.
"The construction out there hasn't been ideal," Dan Beeman, owner of Ben & Jerry's at 224 State St. "It's good to see that they've finished the construction of the street."
Beeman said since Ben & Jerry's opened two months ago, he has not known business without the construction, but said business could only pick up as a result of the reopened street.
"I don't think the construction crippled my business," Beeman said. "However, with pedestrians free to cross the street now, I can only expect positive results for the business."
University of Wisconsin senior Aaron Zittnan said State Street's 200 block this past year has made his saunter up and down State Street problematic.
"The sidewalks with the construction were always so crowded," Zittnan said. "When you walked there during the day, there would always be dust flying around or some machine making some obnoxious noise."
Zittnan said the closed streets were a hassle to navigate with the pedestrian traffic as well as bikers being forced to walk their bicycles on the sidewalks.
According to Beeman, despite the obvious inconvenience, Madison officials helped lessen construction difficulties for pedestrians looking for some ice cream.
"They always kept the sidewalks open, so I never had to close my store for them to work, which was about as business-friendly as they could have been," Beeman said. "I think maybe if there were shops on the other side of the street, things could have been worse because people would not have been able to cross the street after leaving a store across the street."
With Phase II now completed, the next phase of State Street reconstruction is set to begin on the 300 and 400 blocks next spring.
Verveer said the city will take similar measures to deal with the fact that State Street construction in 2006 is on two blocks rather than one.
"Phase two construction started in early June," Verveer said. "However, phase three is set to begin in the spring. The city will also hire more contractors to deal with the larger area."
