As part of the constant revamping of downtown New Bern, NC the work we have been waiting to see has started.

Workers started "craving out' the center of Broad Street with the protective orange and white  barrels to get us to remember it's a work zone.  In a few days work will begin really craving the median and center out of the road to be replaced with a raised "green median" with plantings and shrubbery.

Currently Broad Street is 4 laned with turning lanes. when this project is complete it will return to the look of days gone by,  a 2 laned divided roadway with 14 foot sidewalks. Parking will be permitted on both sides of the road.

This morning I saw where they had removed about a foot of road surface and uncovered a brick road at the bottom of the grade.  It should be interesting to hear what they find.

The contract for the road work is estimated in excess of 2.5 million and does not include all the work that is scheduled.  Estimated completion of the Broad Street project is the Fall of 2009.  This will be a little ahead of the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Bern in 1710.