With State Street construction completed, Madison officials are now moving onto other facets of transforming the downtown area, including reconstructing West Gilman Street and installing a water fixture on Frances Street.
The State Street Design Project Oversight Committee met Thursday to look over designs for the developments. Engineer Chris Petykowski presented a three-month construction plan to renovate West Gilman Street, including adding pedestrian lighting fixtures similar to those on State Street from University Avenue to Henry Street.
Much of the mansion hill neighborhood is in desperate need of reconstruction and resurfacing,"" Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said, applauding the effort to include pedestrian lighting in the Gilman Street plan.
Committee members voted to approve the plan provided Petykowski revise it to include more bicycle racks and lamp-style light fixtures similar to those on Pinckney Street rather than the larger ones on State Street. Petykowski said construction for the project will begin in mid-May after the UW-Madison spring semester ends and wrap up in August before classes resume for fall.
The committee also approved the design of a new water fixture to be placed on Frances Street next to State Street Brats. Designs for the project, which is scheduled for completion in July 2009, gained approval from the committee Thursday after undergoing several changes since first they were first revealed in May.
Artists Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears said one of the things they changed in creating the water fixture was the height of the granite basin containing the water. Sears said they decided to raise the structure higher to avoid ""inappropriate use"" such as vomiting and urinating into the basin, but made sure people could still sit on the structure and that it was not too wall-like.
""It's very much a balancing act,"" Myklebust said of creating the design.
