City of South Bend holds Smart Streets grand opening ceremony

Friday is a big day for drivers in the city of South Bend, especially if you commute downtown. It’s been 14 months since the start of the smart streets project and now city leaders are happy to say the major part of it has been completed.

They’re holding a grand opening ceremony at the Century Center and city leaders are asking you to join them in recognition of the city’s progress.

Back in April of 2016, Main and Michigan Streets in South Bend were announced to be converted from one-way to two-way streets and the city made that happen, but that’s not where smart streets stopped. From Chippewa Avenue on the south side to Bartlett Street downtown, work brought Streetscape improvements and three new roundabouts to the city. In the beginning, Mayor Buttigieg asked the public to be patient with some of the projects setbacks, saying people’s commutes would be disrupted. But he said the improvements would be well worth it.

That promise has been kept as the city will announce the grand opening of the project to be mostly complete. There are still a few spots you need to be aware of that aren’t quite finished yet.

To find out which few spots are still being affected by the project click here for an updated interactive construction and closure map. 

The grand opening ceremony is being held at the Century Center’s west entrance at 11:00 a.m. Friday. City leaders ask that the public join them in the celebration.