LOWER EAST SIDE — At least part of the years-long, delayed East Houston Street construction nightmare will soon be over, according to city officials, while the entire undertaking has been further delayed.
The prolonged overhaul of the busy commercial corridor between Orchard and Chrystie streets — including work on Allen Street and First Avenue — will wrap up by the end of September, according to the city’s Department of Design and Construction.
Barring bad weather, the roadways should be re-paved Sept. 13 and 14, according to a DDC spokesman.
Once the roads are repaved, the M15 bus — which has been rerouted down Chrystie Street to allow for work on Allen Street — will return to its usual route.
But the entire construction project, which extends from the Bowery to FDR Drive, will not wrap up until the spring of 2017 — further delaying the already-prolonged project, which was most recently scheduled for a fall 2016 completion.
The city first kicked off the reconstruction in 2010 to rebuild the road surface, install new curbs and sidewalks and add traffic signs, and replace water and sewer mains.
Though initially scheduled to wrap up in the spring of 2013, the project’s end-date has been continually pushed back as city agencies ran into unforeseen problems with underground wiring and pipes.
The owner of One and One Bar and Restaurant, a neighborhood veteran of 15 years, in March estimated a 40 percent decline in business since workers broke ground outside his pub at First Avenue and East Houston.
DDC reps at the time said they were working with local businesses to minimize disruption.
The roadway on First Avenue between First and Second streets is also scheduled for its final repaving this month, according to the DDC’s weekly construction bulletin, while curbs and sidewalks on the avenue are still a work in progress.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article had stated the entire East Houston Street construction project would be completed by fall 2016. A DDC representative had incorrectly informed DNAinfo New York of this completion date, and the agency has since clarified that the entire project will be completed in spring 2017.
