The first pieces of street furniture were installed as part of The Levee project this week.
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While they are not designed to sit on, the steel surrounds are an architectural feature that will contain native grasses and shrubs as well as the three-metre tall evergreen trees.
“They’re an aesthetic feature and in between those, people will eventually see some large, timber benches for seating,” Maitland City Council civil engineering project manager Greg Blaze said.
“There will be ample seating.”
The installation of the tree surrounds is an important step in the project.
Beneath them are a series of root cells designed to sustain the trees and stop the roots from invading the utilities.
Concreting has begun around the first of the tree surrounds near Elgin Street and on top of that contractors will soon lay the porphyry paving.
Once the paving is complete around the first tree surrounds work will start on the opposite side of the road where the plans cater for some parallel parking.
Between now and the new year, shoppers will continue to have access to the shops, with the footpaths on either side of the street now open.
While work intensifies on the road, there will be a minimum of three points where people can cross from one footpath to the other.
Work was scheduled to start on the Burke and Elgin street intersections before Christmas, but this has been postponed until January to avoid disruption to retailers at a busy time.
The contractors will close the intersections in January to build a raised platform as part of the road to help remind motorists they are entering a busy pedestrian area.
The next Mercury update on The Levee will be published in January.