Cotter will be blocked Monday, traffic restricted on other days

Progress Workers make their way along Oleander Street toward Cotter Avenue (background) as work continues on the Oleander Street drainage project. The project calls for closing Cotter Avenue at Oleander on Monday and for traffic to be restricted Tuesday and Wednesday as crews install culverts under the street.

Cotter Avenue will be closed at Oleander Street on Monday, Dec. 10, as workers begin connecting the new Oleander Street storm sewer line across Cotter Avenue.

City Planning and Projects Manager David Parsons said crews will have Cotter Avenue closed all day Monday. Partial traffic, with a flagman, will be permitted on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and Wednesday, Dec. 12, Parsons said. Drivers will be able to turn into and from Oleander Street on Tuesday and Wednesday, Parsons said.

The project is part of a plan to revamp the storm sewer system from about Beach and Alister streets across to Oleander and from there to the marina, using an existing storm sewer outfall in the marina bulkhead.

Parsons said crews would begin laying asphalt as soon as the storm sewer pipes are in, and should have the entire project completed by mid- January.

Since Oleander was torn up for the project, it's being replaced by a new road that also will sport curbs and gutters where there were none before.

Because the city council told City Manager Michael Kovacs to find the money elsewhere in the city's budget, the project isn't being paid for as part of the bond package voters approved in November 2006, although those projects all involve streets or drainage or both. In making the decision, council members said the Oleander Street project is important enough to proceed with instead of waiting for the election.

The package - including sidewalks on Oleander - was estimated at $2.3 million, but the winning bid, from Island Construction Co., was for $1,952,460. That's $347,540 under the estimated cost.

Work on Alister Street started in May; the Oleander Street part of the project was begun in August.