Two projects, the Howard Street Revitalization project and the downtown Boone rebranding project, aim to upgrade downtown Boone for locals and tourists alike.
The Boone rebranding project started April 15 with an in-depth examination of downtown Boone and potential brand strategies, according to the Branding Boone, NC website.
“What it will look like is up to you, the public!” Laney Wise, the grants coordinator/ communications for downtown Boone, wrote in an email.
The rebranding conversation began last year during a budget retreat and kicked off due to Boone receiving a grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Rural Community Capacity grant program, according to Wise in an email.
There is expected to be mixed feelings about the rebrand, which includes a new logo for the downtown’s image, a new mission statement and professional photos of downtown Boone, since both tourists and locals have different opinions on the image of Boone, Wise wrote.
“We are rebranding to develop a brand that speaks to the community of Boone of today, while remaining mindful of our culture and heritage,” Wise wrote.
The Howard Street construction project, which aims to renovate the infrastructure and road conditions of the street, began on Monday April 21, following the groundbreaking event held on April 14. This project is fully funded by a $9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Mayor Tim Futrelle.
The revitalization project began with the closure of the Howard Street and Depot Street intersection and upgrading the water on sewage system on Howard Street with 1,500 feet of new water mains and 1,200 feet of new sewer mains, Lane Moody, the downtown development coordinator for downtown Boone, said.
Mike Linthicum is the construction manager for the project and said this portion of the project is expected to last about 30 days.
After this, the project will move toward the intersection of Burrell Street which will be closed off for more construction.
Along with the sewage system, new stormwater infrastructure will be built into the street. The construction team will also take the majority of overhead utilities and put them into duct banks underground. Linthicum said once these overhead utilities are put underground and the poles are removed, “it should be a very, very pretty area once it’s completed.”
After the construction of the infrastructure and sewage systems are complete the project will shift into the “fun stuff,” Moody said, of reconstructing the road, sidewalks, adding in additional landscaping, power sources, benches, trash and recycling cans.
Howard Street is set to become a one-way for the entirety of the road with wider bike and pedestrian lanes.
Futrelle said this project is an opportunity to “build a safer street that’s accommodating, that’s inviting, that lets people know that Boone and Howard Street and the downtown area is theirs.”
Parking along the street will shift to different lots, some opening up and others closing, as the road changes its length and accessibility, Moody said. This change is predicted to be slightly disruptful for the flow of traffic, which will be expected to move along either River Street or King Street.
“Anytime we have construction, it will be impactful because it will be changing the flow of that traffic,” Moody said.
The revitalization project was long-awaited as conversation about the reconstruction spanned years back, Moody said.
“Howard Street is going to be what everyone has always hoped it would be for years and years,” Futrelle said.
The project’s contract will last 450 days, something Futrelle said is “both ambitious and optimistic.” The Town of Boone hopes it will be completed by the time the contract is finished, however, events like festivals and heavy rainfall may impact this, Moody said.
“As far as predicting and trying to forecast it, it’s a fine line of being able to try and provide that information that will help businesses make their weekly business decisions, but then not getting so far ahead of ourselves,” Moody said.
Linthicum said construction is weather dependent, however, because he said the contractor is from the area it “shouldn’t affect him because they’re kind of used to it.”
One challenge they may face, Linthicum said, is the unpredictability of what may be underground.
“This street is old, it’s been here a long time,” Linthicum said. “And we’re gonna run across things that we had no idea is there, you know, and so we’re going to have to make sort of decisions as we go on how to proceed from certain things.”
These can lead to possible cost increases, Lithicum said.
“We’ve tried to build in contingencies that we may run into this,” Lithicum said. “We may run into that, and we may not. And that results in cost decreases for the project.
Several businesses along Howard Street are unreachable by car or have limited car access while the construction is ongoing.
“We are hoping that our community is going to come out to support them,” Moody said.
Foot traffic will be mostly unaffected though, as pedestrians can walk through the construction sites in designated walking areas to get to their destination.
“Just be patient,” Lithicum said. “It’s gonna be a construction project, the work’s got to be done. But we’re going to try and do it with as minimal disruptions as we can, but obviously there is going to be some.”
