{"id":53217,"date":"2019-06-16T15:59:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T15:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/?p=53217"},"modified":"2021-06-29T18:07:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T18:07:11","slug":"fountain-square-project-moves-toward-completion-next-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/16\/fountain-square-project-moves-toward-completion-next-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Fountain Square project moves toward completion next spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Construction takes place in the square to improve the sidewalks.
Photo By Henri Aboah\/Louisville Male High School<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By ANIYA JOHNSON
<\/strong>duPont Manual High School<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Construction on downtown Bowling Green\u2019s Fountain Square project is on schedule as workers focus on sidewalk and lighting improvements this week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On Friday, crews demolished sidewalks and poured new ones on State Street and Park Row. The five-phase $3.9 million project, which began in February, is scheduled to be finished no later than the spring of 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Vehicle traffic was not disrupted, but pedestrians are being rerouted as the sidewalk work is done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ultimately, the project\u2019s goal is to increase downtown Bowling Green\u2019s walkability and make the area more urban. Scott and Murphy Construction is the contractor on the project.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sixteen weeks into the project, businesses are making the best of the disruption.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Shops, restaurants, banks and other storefronts all remain open during construction, according to www.bgdowntownsquare.com.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nate Settler, an employee at Spencer\u2019s Coffee, said customers have talked about the inconveniences but are still coming in for their caffeine fixes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think (construction) would stop anybody from coming in here,” Settler said. \u201cBut we did get a lot of complaints like, \u2018Business is slowing down.\u2019 and \u2018It\u2019s so hard to get into this place,\u2019\u201d Settler said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When all is said and done, the coffee shop will have more nearby places for customers to park.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe did lose a couple (spaces) right in front of our store, but we\u2019re going to get some more after all,\u201d Settler said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In addition to the area becoming more walkable, the historic Fountain Square Park, dedicated in 1872 and the site of many of the city\u2019s celebrations and protests through the decades, will be made larger.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe are right now making a bigger park area,\u201d said Dylan Elmore, a construction employee. \u201cMore grass, more trees, I love it down here,\u201d Elmore said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Marie Wilson, a frequent visitor to Fountain Square Park, said she, too, likes the changes. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty down here. At first, I thought Bowling Green was just a small city, but we\u2019ve grown a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To keep tabs on the project, visit www.bgdowntownsquare.com or text \u201cBG\u201d to 313131 to receive push notifications on construction updates.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ANIYA JOHNSON duPont Manual High School Construction on downtown Bowling Green\u2019s Fountain Square project is on schedule as workers focus on sidewalk and lighting improvements this week. On Friday, crews demolished sidewalks and poured new ones on State Street and Park Row. The five-phase $3.9 million project, which began in February, is scheduled to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,464],"tags":[],"staff_name":[],"class_list":["post-53217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-x19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252115,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217\/revisions\/252115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53217"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wkuxposure.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=53217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}