City of Vancouver celebrates the reopening of Main Street

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KPTV) - Hundreds flocked to Vancouver’s Main Street to celebrate the opening after almost two years of construction.

Many people said the celebration is a relief to several in the Vancouver community.

A multimillion-dollar project ends with a celebration.

The City of Vancouver opened Main Street between 11th Street and Evergreen Boulevard on Wednesday to celebrate the end of construction, which was ahead of schedule.

It was a project that was overdue. City leaders say crews reconstructed near-century-old infrastructure for wastewater and stormwater beneath the new pavement.

“You never know what you’re going to run into when you dig up a city Main Street that hasn’t happened in decades and decades and decades,” said Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.

The Vancouver mayor says the street construction was over 30 years in the making and cost $26 million to complete. It’s the largest infrastructure project the city has ever done, with almost half of the funding coming from the American Rescue Plan Act, which is federal aid offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“$12 million came from the ARPA, the other $14 million came from the City of Vancouver,” said the mayor.

In addition to the underground work, the city says new traffic lights, outdoor seating, and even custom art now line Main Street.

One of the businesses ready to take advantage of the refurbished area was Carino Coffeehouse.

“When we found out that we were going to have space to do seating outside in the space that we have, I was like, man, that’s a small price to pay because we got way more than we even thought when we got in here,” said owner of Carino Coffeehouse, Melissa Mancillas.

But some businesses say the construction wasn’t always easy to deal with.

“There was definitely days when people weren’t coming in or, like, customers were messaging and scheduling, saying we can’t make it down there because the construction or there’s no parking,” said barber at Big D’s Barbershop, Shareen Tonge.

But even through all the adversity, loyal customers and businesses banding together made all the difference during the almost two-year construction period.

“Our whole block has just supported each other, I think, is the most beautiful, amazing thing through all of this. That we’ve persevered, and they survived, and we’ve been here for each other,” said Tonge.

Minor work is expected to continue through Thanksgiving, including planting over 100 trees in the area.