Monday is Memorial Day, so local governments and banks are closed for a holiday. This means the Montgomery County Board of Supervisor's normal meeting date was changed to Tuesday, May 26th.
Their regular agenda begins at 7:15 pm and includes an update on the proposed new courthouse to be constructed along East Main in Downtown Christiansburg. This includes a parking structure along First and Pepper Streets.
A delegation is expected to provide details about this first phase, last estimated to have a $27 million price tag. Bids were expected in late spring (now) with construction scheduled to encompass two years. This project was previously slated to begin in 2003.
Concurrently, the Town of Christiansburg will be continuing downtown improvements, replacing sidewalks along East Main from Town Hall to Town Square -- but only on the opposite side of the street from the courthouse project. That work was last reported to have a July start date. Due to current cost estimates and limited grant funding, a project initially planned back in 1998 has been split into multiple phases.
July 2009 would mark 12 months of no ongoing construction in the downtown area -- these new projects will celebrate that anniversary by beginning a new cycle, affecting traffic, visitors, parking and local businesses and their customers once again.
Let's hope both projects (county and town) stay on schedule and in budget this time.