The days of rough driving on narrow pavement are numbered for Woodward Avenue residents between Main Street and McKinley Avenue.

In just a matter of days the final pipe will be buried for the $9 million sewer trunk and storm system. That means by the early part of November new pavement will have been completed and the year-long construction completed.

Some segments will be within several feet of the street’s ultimate width. Such segments can be found closer to Union Road where just curb and gutter missing along with a narrow strip of paving between the future gutter and roadway’s edge will remain when work is completed. Several of the medians will also be in place by the end of the project. The rest of the improvements - curbs, gutters and additional widening plus other medians will be put in place by developers as growth occurs.

And as far as residents living on a rural stretch east of Pagola Avenue having to face dodging construction work in front of their homes, that won’t be happening for the foreseeable future. The city has dropped plans for now to extend the sewer and storm lines all the way to Woodward Park,

The further extension to Woodward Park would eliminate an existing pump that lifts sewer from nearby homes into the rest of the city’s gravity flow pipe system.

The overall projectwas designed to put storm drains, a main sewer line, wider street, turn lanes, and a median with basic landscaping  in place all in one fell swoop to avoid going back repeatedly and making cuts into the asphalt.

Funds for the project were borrowed from growth fee accounts and are being repaid with interest from connection fees paid by future development along the 2-mile corridor that stretches from Pagola Avenue to McKinley Avenue. There are 1,500 building lots already approved along the corridor.