With spring just around the corner and summer not far behind, the City of Redmond is preparing to ramp up its downtown capital project work.

On Thursday evening, after the Reporter’s deadline, the city held a public open house to inform the community on what they can expect to see happening downtown in the coming months, the progress on major projects and other information.

Once the weather warms up, work will begin again on the two-way conversions of Cleveland Street and Redmond Way.

Lisa Singer, a senior engineer in the city’s public works department, said the city has been meeting with downtown business groups about the upcoming work but the goal of the open house was to inform more people.

“We want the broader community to know what’s going on,” she said.

“What’s going on” regarding the two-way conversions, will be utility upgrades along Cleveland Street and Redmond Way in downtown.

Singer said the plan is to start in June, when crews will be doing underground work on water, stormwater and sewer utilities at 11 intersections along Redmond Way in downtown, all the way to Avondale Way. She also noted that there will be private development work being done at the same time so the city will be working with developers to coordinate traffic impacts and minimize them when possible. Singer said there will be minor night work and there may be possible intersection closures during the day, adding that roadways may be reduced to one lane at times.

“We’ll do everything we can to keep traffic flowing,” Singer said.

Following the utility work, she said they will need to replace signals and some other lighting equipment, add in signals facing the other direction and re-stripe the road before the conversion is complete, which is scheduled for the fall of 2017. Singer said the work will be continuous during this time.

To help with informing businesses and residents downtown, Singer said there will be signage and regular outreach to notify people about what will be happening on a weekly basis.

In addition, to help commuters coming in from outside of Redmond, Singer said the city will install electronic signs along Redmond Way on both ends of town that will note information such as any closures or other impacts, route options as well as how long one route will take drivers versus another option. She added that the goal is to leave the signs blank unless there is an impact.

Drivers can also sign up for traffic alerts through the city’s website.

Jill Smith, economic development manager for the city, said they had also been meeting with businesses prior to Thursday to learn about what concerns people have so they could address them if they were brought up at the open house. She said most of the concerns that were brought up related to access — access to businesses along Redmond Way and Cleveland Street while work is being done, pedestrians’ access to sidewalks and potential blocked driveways.

Smith said they will maintain access throughout the project work and will communicate with businesses if there will need to be a road closure or driveway blockage.

Other concerns that the city has heard, she said, were regarding downtown parking. To address this, the open house also featured a map of downtown Redmond showing all the different types of parking available. Smith also noted that mixed-use buildings such as Red 160 and the Elan Redmond offer some parking for customers frequenting the businesses on the first floor of those buildings.

Another project featured at Thursday’s open house was the Downtown Park.

B. Sanders, senior park planner for the city, said the city completed the park’s master plan in 2015 and they are about halfway through the design phase. According to design plans, she said the park will have a raised lawn surrounded by a wooden deck area that could be used for performances. There will also be a splash pad for kids and a pavilion with a water wall and projector that could be used to incorporate digital art, Sanders said. The park will also have trees planted around most of the perimeter to provide a buffer from the street and shade. There will also be bistro seating throughout the park as well as a restroom facility.

Sanders said the goal is for construction to begin in early 2017 with completion scheduled for 2018.

“We’re still on track,” she said about the schedule.