EVERETT — Crews plan to lift plastic wrapping from the intersection of Hewitt and Colby avenues this morning to reveal a fresh coat of paint on the metal structure known as the quadrangle.
“They finished up painting this afternoon,” city spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said Monday. “They’ll clean up tonight and they’re on track to finish by 7 a.m.”
The $144,000 makeover, in a shade of dark green, has been ongoing since late October. Since then, work has shut down the downtown Everett crossroads for two entire weekends. The city had hoped to finish earlier this month, but high winds cancelled work they hoped to complete between Nov. 1 and Nov. 4.
The city instead scheduled painting for the three-day Veterans Day weekend.
The intersection will remain a four-way stop until crews have finished replacing the traffic signals overhead, likely within the next week, Pembroke said.
The quadrangle has been standing for nearly 40 years. Until the recent work, it had been dark blue. The square, metal frame becomes most noticeable during the holidays, when the city decorates it for Christmas.
During the shutdowns, pedestrians were able to roam the sidewalks, but cars had to follow detour routes.
Some downtown restaurant owners worried the shutdowns would hurt business during one of the busiest times of the year, with the Village Theatre system underway and events at Comcast Arena. In particular, they were upset about receiving the first formal notice about the disruption just a day before city crews began dismantling the traffic signals overhead.
City officials said they planned the work as soon as they finalized the schedule with a contractor, with the goal of completing work before the holiday season. The city also considered autumn an ideal time for the moisture-cured paint used on the project.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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