LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 6, 2014) — Daily blasting at the CentrePointe construction site will start soon, requiring pedestrian and vehicle traffic to briefly stop on four downtown streets. Citizens who live, work or frequently visit downtown Lexington are encouraged to sign up for electronic notifications and avoid the area during the blasts.
Precision Blasting will conduct one blast a day at 10 a.m., five to six days a week. A test of the traffic shut-down is scheduled for Saturday, March 8, and daily blasting is expected to begin Monday, March 17. No blasting will occur during the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Boys’ Sweet Sixteen basketball tournament March 19-23 at Rupp Arena.
State law requires a horn notification system to sound and traffic to shut down five minutes prior to the blast. Each stoppage is expected to last 5-10 minutes. Traffic will be stopped by licensed flag personnel at four intersections around the CentrePointe block:
• Main St. at Limestone St.
• Upper St. at Main St.
• Vine St. at Upper St.
• Limestone St. at Vine St.
Signs will be in place to alert drivers about the blast zone. Citizens can also sign up for text message alerts by texting BLASTING to 46786, or by visiting www.lexingtonky.gov/blasting. Standard data and text messaging rates apply.
The blasting is part of a private development project to build a 700-space underground parking structure. Precision Blasting will blast around 2,000 cubic yards of rock a day. Communication on cell phones and two-way radios will not be affected by the blasting.
Personnel from Precision Blasting and Gorman Construction have conducted a pre-blast survey of nearby property and have met with officials from both the city and state.
A Lexington police officer will be on site with Precision before and during blast time. In the event that a blast must be aborted, traffic will be released and the situation investigated. Once the issue is resolved, the blasting process will start over with a 5-minute warning.
Blasting is expected to take several weeks to complete.
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