It's almost a year late because of issues with the glass art installation, but the Brady Green Stairs project at the corner of Elgin and Durham streets is almost completed.
The $1.2 million job combined needed repairs to a storage building and hydro vault that provides structural support for the nearby ramp, with public art.
An ambitious multi-coloured dome in the original plan was scrapped because of concerns about snow accumulations in winter, replaced with a green glass structure crews have been working on all winter.
“There were some issues with the glass,” said Brad Johns, the city's manager of project services, explaining why the completion was delayed. “We had to do some redesign on the glass and that caused some of the delay.”
Johns said finishing touches will be made to the area this week, and scaffolding will be removed.
“We've got some some other work to be completed, weather permitting, just on the driveway down below and on some guide rails,” he said.
While the project started because of the need to repair the buildings, it offered the city a chance to further a goal of the Downtown Master Plan, which calls for more connections to Memorial Park.
By the fall, the city will be working with artists selected to complete a mural that will run along a wall that has been cleared for the artwork.
“It's going to be a nice, convenient little community park, for sitting and just taking it easy,” Johns said. “It'll be available for a good chunk of the summer for people to use.”
Once the courtyard project is complete at Tom Davies Square in the next year, there will be a connected space going from Paris Street to Durham, through Memorial Park. A mural is also planned for the newly renovated Elgin Street Underpass.
There will eventually be a continuous walking trail linking downtown to Science North, via the Nelson Street Bridge, but no schedule is in place to have that work completed.
