Ray Avenue is expected to reopen Monday afternoon, but it will not remain open permanently.

For the past few weeks, the city has been working to replace storm drainpipes to increase the water flow in that area.

“We had to replace the storm drain pipes that were beneath the road,” said Vaughn Daniels, director of Environmental Services. “We added another set of pipes to increase the water flow, preparing for the new project on Dozier Drive.”

Plans are in place to build an apartment complex on Dozier; however, Daniels said that no starting date has been confirmed.

While the city expects to reopen Ray Avenue, they will have to close it again sometime in the near future for some finishing touches.

“There will be a couple of days where we will close again for shoulder work,” Daniels said. “We will be placing stone in the stream bed. They would not be able to do that with vehicles passing.”

Although the plan is to reopen late Monday afternoon, Daniels said that weather could delay this if it continues to rain.

“If we get a large amount of rain, we may have to delay it again,” Daniels said.

After the storm Thursday night, Daniels said little damage occurred to the project on Ray Avenue, and it did not set back their progress. He said that there are always large amounts of water after heavy rains, because water drains from that area of U.S. Highway 231 and the businesses in that area.

Once the drain is complete, Daniels said that it will help to eliminate drainage problems in the future, especially with the new apartment complex being built on Dozier Drive.

“It will increase the flow of the water, possibly eliminating future failures in that system,” Daniels said.

According to Daniels, the project on Ray Avenue may not have occurred if it weren’t for the upcoming project on Dozier Drive.

“It wouldn’t have needed to be upgraded,” Daniels said. “Without the project, we may not have needed to upgrade that system. It has worked okay so far. We could have gone a period of time without upgrading it.”

In the meantime, Daniels suggest that drivers and residents in that area take caution, as workers will remain on the sides of the road completing the work.

“I ask that the residents continue to use caution because they will still be building headwalls on one side,” Daniels said.