HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Major infrastructure upgrades are coming to a portion of North Main Street in High Point.
The city held a series of public meetings in April to inform people about the roughly $3.5 million project starting in June. Improvements include a new road, replacing sidewalks and burying power lines to make it more pedestrian friendly between Parkway Avenue and Westwood Avenue.
High Point City engineer, Scott Dingus said these changes may spur economic growth to an area that only comes alive twice a year because of furniture market.
"The goal is of course, you know whenever we remove the power lines, that it creates a nicer looking area, an area where people want to come, where people want to walk, where people want to be, where businesses are drawn."
When the project starts, all southbound traffic will still be able to travel down through the construction zone on N. Main Street. All northbound traffic though will be detoured around that area.
"We want you to take University Blvd," Dingus said. “The second detour if you want to go closer to downtown, you can take the new Martin Luther King Jr Drive and go up Centennial."
Dingus anticipates construction to last 14 months.
When furniture market is in town, the project will temporarily shut down for three weeks and all lanes will reopen.