Work will begin on Empire Blvd improvements on September 10 with a closure of the street from the 18th St. roundabout to Purcell. Phase i of the Empire Extension project will upgrade the street to full arterial standards including pavement, curbs, sidewalk on the south side of the road, drainage control and landscaping. It will include construction of the west half of the new roundabout at Empire and Purcell. City engineer Sinclair Burr debuted the project at the BANA meeting Aug. 13. He said a hotline for neighborhood questions and concerns is 541-200-6939.
The schedule calls for that phase to be completed by December 1. Detours will take traffic south to Brinson and around to Butler Market or north along 18th to Scottsdale and Old Deschutes Market Road. School District bus routes have been altered to accommodate the detours.
An open house to provide residents with details of the project is set for Monday Aug. 20 10 a.m. at 10 Barrel Brewery and a second open house at 5 p.m. that day at Combined Communications, 63088 NE 18th ST. Phase II of the project includes improvements to Purcell Blvd with sidewalks and a new pedestrian crossing of the North Unit Canal. That will begin in early 2019.