The City of Taylor will begin construction on several improvements to the City’s downtown district on November 7, 2022. The improvements, which are expected to be completed before Spring of 2023, will include striping for additional parking spaces, updated landscaping, wayfinding signage, and the installation of permanent streetscaping on the Northwest corner of 2nd Street and Main Street. While construction will be ongoing throughout the holidays, it should only cause minimal disruption to residents’ daily commute through town.
The final plans for the downtown improvements were presented to City Council in a public meeting in May of this year and put out for bid over the summer. Funding was approved by City Council in a public meeting on September 22. The improvements will be paid out of the City’s Capital Improvement Project (CIP) fund.
Total Highway Maintenance will manage the parking element of the improvement project, which will involve the restriping of on-street parking in Taylor’s downtown district, which will add 300+ delineated on-street parking spaces downtown. The restriping will also include 15 additional parking spaces at City Hall.
Utz Environmental Services will be handling the landscape improvements for downtown landscape islands. The new and improved landscaping will include plantings and drip irrigation within the islands only; the City will be responsible for ensuring that each landscape island has a fully functioning irrigation source and controller.
The wayfinding signage for the downtown improvements project will be managed by Fazzone Construction. It will include downtown directional signage, decorative banners for existing streetlights, a new City Hall sign, and signage for the Heritage Park Stage and Farmer’s Market Pavilion.
The improvement of the pedestrian and intersection streetscape at the northwest corner of 2nd and Main will be constructed by Lone Star Site Work. A temporary streetscape was put into place in 2020 as a pilot project; the new improvements will bring the project into permanence, with new curb, sidewalk, and brick pavers, bollards for pedestrian safety, and pedestrian signal poles. The streetscaping was designed in consultation with the Texas Historical Commission as well as the Texas Department of Transportation.
For additional information about the downtown maintenance project and other CIP projects in the City of Taylor, visit the City’s website at taylortx.gov.