Downtown Cary streetscape taking shape; 1st phase expected to finish this fall

The new downtown Cary streetscape is starting to take shape as contractors lay down new brick crosswalks along Main Street. Detours are expected to continue through this month, Cary Village Administrator Erik Morimoto said.

By the end of this year, new crosswalks, planted trees, street lights and new traffic signals will all be installed, Morimoto said.

The revamping of downtown is part of the Cary Streetscape project which was first planned in 2016. The goal of the construction is to encourage reinvestment while maintaining Cary’s small-town charm, according to village documents.

Northbound travel on High Road and westbound lanes on West Main Street are currently closed while brickwork on the new crosswalks is being installed. Detours for southbound High Road and eastbound West Main Street are expected to start later this week, Cary Assistant to the Public Works Director Tim Bassuener wrote in an update on Sept. 29.

“We’re still working on those crosswalks over at High Road and West Main Street, half at a time,” Morimoto said. “Then they’ll flip it around and do the other half and that will probably take another few weeks from there.”

There have been construction detours affecting traffic flow in the downtown area since late August. Construction for the $2.2 million project first started in March. Over half of the costs are being funded by a $1.2 million Rebuild Illinois grant, Morimoto said.

Work on the former train station will start next year, Morimoto said. The village finalized the purchase of the former train station for $342,340 in August.

The plan is to create a community plaza with benches, a pavilion and a potential outdoor fireplace, which will be the second phase of the streetscape project.