Fifth Avenue Re-Opening: Mid-June

South Fifth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor – one-way southbound between Liberty and William – will not be re-opened to traffic until sometime in mid-June. The street has been closed since August 2010 in connection with the construction of a new underground parking garage on the east side of Fifth, which will offer around 700 spaces. The city’s public parking system currently has 6,956 spaces.

At its May 2, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board had been updated with the expectation that the street would be re-opened by the end of May. [photo of South Fifth, taken on May 31]

The groundbreaking for the garage occurred in the fall of 2009. [photo] The project was originally expected to be completed in the fall of 2011. The opening ceremony for the new parking garage is now expected on July 12, 2012, though the garage itself might open sooner than that.