If you’re driving through the middle of Marietta during the next few months, prepare to brake.
The city has started a $1.3 million makeover of the town square that will inconvenience motorists and pedestrians and hit business owners in the cash register.
Work crews will dig up and replace an old water main, resurface the streets on all four sides, build brick crosswalks at all intersections and replace old street poles and existing parking signs. Streets will be closed at times construction, which is scheduled to end in late April.
Much of Marietta's civic life revolves around the square, a picturesque, park-like block with a bandstand for concerts, gazebo, playground and fountain. Cobb County government buildings occupy one side of the square, shops and restaurants the other three sides.
The city scheduled the project for the post-Christmas months to minimize problems for businesses, said City Manager Bill Bruton. Still, merchants are bracing for a loss in revenue.
“If they’re diverting traffic away from the square it will affect our business negatively,” said Don Davis of Go Fish Clothing and Jewelry, one of several merchants who met with city officials to share his concerns. “It’s a guess as to how much.”
Bobby Prentice, a manager at Jack’s New Yorker Deli on Roswell Street, said he thinks the project should eventually increase the restaurant's business.
“The only bad note is if the construction itself causes havoc, but that would be for a limited time and would be worth it if business improves,” he said.
Public Works Director Dan Conn said streets on the square will be closed for several weeks at a time for resurfacing and crosswalk construction. He estimated about a dozen parking spots will be closed daily, though that number may rise some days. The city hopes to complete work in time for the first city-sponsored events in the square: an April 23 concert and the April 25 Tastes of Marietta.
The project should not affect access to city hall, which is off the square. The project is paid for with the special local option sales tax, or SPLOST, voters approved in 2005 for transportation projects.
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