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The first phase of improvements along University Avenue from Milvia Street to Shattuck Avenue is tentatively scheduled to begin on Wednesday. 

Today and Tuesday, Bauman Landscapes Inc., the contractor for the Measure S improvement project will begin to lay out placement of electrical wiring under the asphalt pavement in the street. 

That means University Avenue will continue to have “no parking” signs posted on the south side of the street today, said Howard Suan, Engineering Inspector. 

Suan also said the work will begin in increments, and the area will not become a “hard hat village.” Instead, the work will proceed in small chunks that are easier for merchants, customers and residents to live with. 

The project will tackle the south side of the street first, which is expected to take three or four weeks. 

The work on the north side also will run for three or four weeks, but that construction won’t begin until the contractor reaches Oxford Street, and then returns down to Milvia on the north side of the street. Only one lane will be closed at any time. 

As of Friday, the project was still awaiting an underground service alert evaluation where the utility companies pinpoint where their pipes and wiring are located, and the city does the same with its traffic lights. 

Suan said once Bauman Landscapes crews know where the existing utilities are located, they can decide where to excavate the trench for the pedestrian lamp posts like the ones already on Addison Street between Milvia Street and Shattuck. 

But the trench is no chasm, Suan said. The area that will hold the electrical conduit will be six inches wide and two to three feet deep. 

The trenching won’t require much more than two or three workers, with a backhoe and saw cutter, and a cement truck. A crane will be needed to lift the lamp posts into position. 

Bauman will probably work 100 feet at a time, and as they move they’ll move the barricades with them, and no-parking signs will be posted 48 hours prior to working.” 

Suan said the crosswalk will be moved west of where it is now, and a “bulb” extension will be placed at the curb to make it easier for wheelchairs to navigate the crosswalk. 

In addition, an irrigation pipe for planters in the median strip will be installed as well as new urban friendly trees on University and also on Shattuck. 

Time lost is money, Suan said. 

“We’re trying to minimize the impact. That’s why we say one block at a time,” Suan said.