Florence City closes down parts of Pine Street due to storm drain collapsing

FLORENCE, Ala. (WAFF) - Pine Street from Tuscaloosa Street to Tennessee Street went from one lane to no lanes.

There is a detour in place, taking people around this busy downtown area where several businesses are located. Drivers in downtown Florence have been dealing with partial road closures for months now, but now Pine Street is closed in both directions for a few blocks.

City leaders said a storm drain collapsed on the corner of Mobile Street and Pine street over the weekend.

“We’d hoped to be able to keep two lanes open like we currently were, but it just wasn’t going to happen,” Mayor Betterton said. So now for at least three to four weeks, we’re gonna have the entire segment from, I guess, Tennessee to Tuscaloosa closed on Pine Street.”

The road will only be fully closed until the storm drain is fixed. But it will only open up one lane while the city continues work on the new parking deck.

Mayor Andy Betterton said that work is expected to last until May 2024. Some businesses said the road closure is affecting how many people come through while others say they are not too worried.

“I think some of the businesses own a mobile from Pine to Court Street are going to be a little inconvenient, but we’ve spoken with all them,” Mayor Betterton said. “We’ve put signs up, making sure the public knows that they’re open for business. And we appreciate their patience.”

Tyler Ross is a co-owner of the Lava Room on Mobile Street. He said all business owners can do is wait for the work to be done. He said it is not hurting his business anyway.

“That’s not affected by any of the street stuff going on so you can still parking in the parking deck and get right to us,” Ross explained. “It’s kind of a different view with them building a parking deck right behind us but it’s still fine. It still does the job.”

Mayor Betterton also said at the city council meeting tomorrow, they will have a full emergency plan in place to get this drain pipe fixed as fast as possible.

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