MVHS To Begin Utility Improvements On Columbia Street

Mohawk Valley Health System will begin making infrastructure improvements underneath Columbia Street to improve the infrastructure and increase capacity for the new regional medical center and surrounding areas.

The improvements will require Columbia Street to close from Broadway to State Street beginning on Monday and well into the next year until the infrastructure improvements are completed.

Surrounding streets such as Lafayette Street, State Street, Broadway and Court Street will remain open while the infrastructure work is being done.

The sanitary sewer, storm sewer and water utilities, which are owned by the City of Utica and the Mohawk Valley Water Authority, are being replaced and relocated.

The electric and natural gas infrastructure, operated and maintained by National Grid is also being replaced and re-routed.

“These improvements to the water, storm sewer and sanitary sewer infrastructure will replace the existing, antiquated arrangement with new infrastructure that is designed and constructed to be more efficient,” said Robert Scholefield, executive vice president/COO for MVHS.

MVHS is investing more than $22 million to make all of these infrastructure upgrades.

A ground breaking ceremony for the new downtown Utica hospital took place on Thursday.