Construction on Windsor's Riverfront Festival Plaza will resume in the next few weeks.
Crews will continue moving soil as part of the rebuilding and expansion of the retaining wall for the Festival Plaza Improvement Project. The soil will be moved just east of the plaza to grassy areas in Great Western Park in the coming weeks.
According to Josie Liburdi, a technologist with the City of Windsor, the renovations will bring a whole new life to the riverfront area.
Festival Plaza Concept Plan (Photo via City of Windsor website)
"Right now the contractor is working on retaining wall. We have a trail up top that we've taken out and we're going to replace it. We have two lookout points that are going to be up top as well," she explained. "Once we have the wall up we're going to be putting a nice guard rail up along the whole frontage. Then just do up the trail again, do a nice rehab to the trail. We'll have some benches up there, putting some nice trees, restoring the top area."
The soil will be piled approximately one metre high and confined to the grass so it doesn’t impact the recreation trails. Fencing will also be installed to keep everything confined.
Liburdi said moving the soil will ensure the plaza is ready for events in the upcoming months.
"Concerts will start happening back in the spring of 2020," she explained. "It will remain the status quo as it usually does."
As a result of moving the soil, the parking lot at the end of Parent Avenue will be closed for approximately two weeks to allow safe dump truck access to the site.
The project is currently in Phase 1 and Phase 2 remains in the design stage.
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