TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
A busy week ahead for construction on the modern streetcar project.
It eventually will link the University of Arizona area to downtown and the west side.
Crews are about to start work in the University Main Gate area as they get ready for another milestone down the road, on Fourth Avenue.
They‘re about half way through construction on the northern section of Fourth Avenue where the streetcar will run.
That portion of the nearly four-mile-long route will be the first to see streetcar rails installed.
That's on Fourth, from University to Sixth Street.
"That is monumental. For us it's somewhat of a milestone simply because we've done quite a bit of preparation and accelerated the work to try to get this done to start that process," says Modern Streetcar Construction Manager Jesse Gutierrez.
Monday, University Boulevard was shut down, from Euclid to Park Avenue.
That's the Main Gate area.
"So these crews that were working on the underground now basically leap frog to the next section and start the underground work there in preparation for the next section of rail installation," Gutierrez says.
For planners and construction crews, things are going great.
For the Fourth Avenue merchants who have endured some two months of construction, and still have about two-and-a-half months to go, it's another story.
The manager at the Epic Cafe says business dropped off about 35% the day the street was closed to cars.
"It's been hard. It's hard to be positive about it when you're in the middle of it. The construction's going on and you're just watching our sales drop every day. So, but I mean, if it helps Tucson, if it helps the local community, great. But, hopefully, we can get through it," says The Epic Cafe's Rebecca Wolff.
On University Boulevard the full impact of the street closure hasn't hit yet.
However, businesses on University are closer to the University of Arizona campus than Fourth Avenue shops are.
University Boulevard business owners and managers are hoping that will help.
"I knew that Fourth took a big hit, but we're so close to the campus--and that's a huge part of our customer base--so I'm not sure. I mean I'm sure business will go down, but I mean we just kind of have to survive through the summer and hope that it picks up when the school year starts again," says Joe Poore who works at Auld Dubliner Irish Pub on University Boulevard.
The schedule has the streetcar moving passengers in a little more than a year.
People along the route are hoping that day will bring a boom in business.
For now, they're just hoping Tucsonans remember them and their shops and restaurants and help them get through the summer months, and the additional months of construction.
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