Center Street underpass officially reopens
Today marks the first day of the new underpass on center street in Pocatello. After a month of construction, Pocatello officials opened the new underpass for cars and pedestrians. The ribbon cutting was held this afternoon at 2 p.m.
“The structure of the underpass is in really good shape, so what we wanted to do was just some maintenance and beautification to help bring it back to life a little bit,” said Public Works Director, Tom Kirkman.
The construction focused mainly on fixing spalling concrete and exposing rebar. However, they used this time to also paint both islands, add lamp posts near the entrances and add LED lights through the tunnel.
“One of the really neat aspects about this project is we brought together a lot of really great craftsman on this project. City employees as well as contractors and everyone worked great together. Everyone came together and got it done. We hit our budget and hit our timeline, so we couldn’t be more happy.”
The closure made commuting through Old Town difficult. However, Kirkman said it was necessary for the safety and integrity of the underpass. It officially opened up for public use today at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.