SANDPOINT — Cities don't typically hold 8 a.m. meetings at beer halls — unless, perhaps, it is the central location of a big construction project.

About 40 people, including city officials and local business owners who will be affected by the upcoming work on Cedar Street gathered in MickDuff's Beer Hall Thursday morning to discuss details of the downtown revitalization project, including the scope of the project, impact to downtown businesses and timeline.

"Really, the focus of this project is all about improving our downtown area," said Public Works Director Amanda Wilson. "The reason we do that is to improve the look and the feel of downtown."

Another focus of the project, she said, is to make the area safer and more user friendly.

The first phase of the Downtown Revitalization Project includes reconstruction of Cedar Street between Second and Fifth avenues, removing and replacing all elements of the street from storefront-to-storefront. These elements include the street and sidewalks, with wider sidewalks and bulbouts in the intersections, as well as new trees, bike racks, benches, trash receptacles, lighting and storm gardens. 

Originally, the plan was to close one side of Cedar Street at a time, allowing traffic to pass through along the other side. Randy McDougall with Earthworks Northwest, the city's contractor for the project, said they will be doing the construction one block at a time instead, closing the block of Cedar Street down completely during the construction period. City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said it will keep the cost down, as well as increase visibility to the businesses to shut down one block at a time.

Work is tentatively scheduled to start May 21, after Lost in the '50s weekend, beginning with the block between Second and Third avenues. Each block will take approximately a month to complete, with construction scheduled to wrap up in mid-September. A typical work day will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, Wilson said. There will be no work on holidays or weekends.

As each block is completed and opened back up to traffic, the street will be gravel until the end of the construction period, and all three blocks will be paved at once. The goal is to pave Cedar Street before Labor Day weekend, with a few finishing touches of the project going in after, Wilson said.

While the project requires the complete removal and replacement of the roadway and all sidewalks, pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained throughout the majority of the project. There will be some short periods of time, however, when the storefronts will be inaccessible as the sidewalks are replaced, McDougall said.

As for traffic control, Wilson said signage will be installed to direct long vehicles, such as boat trailers and RVs, to take Church Street. Tractor-trailers, other than local deliveries, traveling Highway 95 will be directed to the north exit.

In addition to the work on Cedar this summer, the sewer replacement along First Avenue will continue in August after the conclusion of Festival at Sandpoint. The sewer project began last year, running from just south of Lake Street to north of Church Street.

For project details, including an overview of the downtown revitalization, timeline, renderings, frequently asked questions and a parking map that also lists the businesses in the construction area, visit sandpointstreets.com.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.