Broad Street's Construction Has Moved East. Plan Your Downtown Augusta Nights Around It.

On the afternoon of Oct. 14, landscaping crews were putting trees back into the ground on Broad Street between 12th and 13th. WJBF reported that the planting is part of the Broad Street Improvement Project's push toward completion. Many of the corridor's trees came down in Hurricane Helene, and crews removed the rest when construction started. That same week, six blocks east, the outside lanes between 6th and 7th were in demolition and 7th Street was closed to through traffic.

Downtown Augusta this fall is no longer one long construction zone. The work has shifted east. The west end, around the 1200 block, is starting to look like the finished street. The heavy work is now concentrated between 5th and 10th streets, the stretch that includes the Augusta Market and James Brown Linear Park, and the city's schedule keeps it active into December. To plan a downtown evening this season, start with which end of Broad you're headed to.

The 1200 Block Is the Preview

Business owners call the 13th-to-12th block a model unit for the rest of downtown. More trees and plants are still going in. Brianne Martin, co-founder of Freshwater Curated Goods, put it this way in WJBF's coverage:

"We are so happy to see all the trees line Broad Street. It's just going to show how far that Broad Street has come."

Freshwater is at 1243 Broad St. and was holding an in-store event the day the trees went in. A few doors east, Bradley's Barbecue opened at 1209 Broad in late July, while the construction was still going. It's the newest restaurant from Havird Usry, who also owns So Sal, Fat Man's and Sno Cap across the river. He bought the former Sunshine Bakery building in 2023 and rebuilt it from four walls and a bad roof. WRDW reported that the booths came from an 1856 church in Wrens and that the smokers run overnight. It's open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. In August, Usry told WJBF the restaurant was waiting for construction to finish before putting out outdoor tables. Frog Hollow Tavern sits on the same end of the corridor at 1282 Broad.

The 1200 block also shows how long finishing work takes. The city's March schedule had this block done by July 1. The Aug. 20 revision moved that to Sept. 14. In early September, the city said the south side along Ellis Street was substantially complete and work was continuing on the north side along Jones. Trees going in during mid-October suggest the block is in its last stage. On this project, though, a scheduled date and a finished block are separate milestones.

Why the East End Takes Longer

Augusta Engineering Director Dr. Hameed Malik gave WRDW the reason the schedule keeps slipping. Broad Street's utilities went in about 100 years ago, there is "no good documentation" of what's under the road, and crews keep finding clay water and sewer pipes. The city has said block schedules may shift mainly to fit in new stormwater infrastructure. That matches the closures on the side streets right now.

City leaders approved an extra $2 million this summer to speed up work in the business corridor. The city's strategy is to work several blocks at once, which gets the project done sooner but leaves less room at street level while crews are working.

These are the city's construction windows from its Aug. 20 schedule update, the most recent full timeline it has posted:

Some of these end dates have already passed, and the daily advisories don't line up with them. Demolition of the outside lanes between 6th and 7th began Oct. 5, two weeks before that block's scheduled Oct. 21 finish. Treat the table as the city's plan, and check augustadtp.com before you drive in. The latest closures are posted there first.

The two dates that matter most for the holidays are at the bottom of the table. The James Brown Linear Park block is scheduled through Dec. 18, and work east of 5th Street starts Dec. 16. The city still says the business corridor from 13th to 5th should be done by the end of 2026, with the final segment running into February.

The Market Saturdays Inside the Work Zone

The east-end work matters most on Saturday mornings. The Augusta Market runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 8th and Reynolds streets near the Riverwalk, and admission is free. The season ends Nov. 21.

That corner is surrounded by this month's closures:

• 7th Street between Broad and Reynolds is closed to through traffic from Oct. 14 through an expected finish of Saturday, Oct. 31, for drainage installation and exploratory work. Businesses remain reachable from Reynolds Street.
• 8th Street between Broad and Ellis closed Oct. 5 for about two weeks of storm drain work, with posted detours for through traffic.
• Broad Street between 6th and 7th has had its outside lanes closed for demolition since Oct. 5.

After this week, five market Saturdays remain: Oct. 24 and 31, then Nov. 7, 14 and 21. The 7th Street closure is expected to last through the first two. Approaching from the west on Reynolds avoids most of it.

The 700 and 900 blocks have their own stops worth combining with a market morning. New Moon Cafe at 936 Broad is open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christine Sherer, who owns New Moon and Moonbeans Coffee, has encouraged customers to keep coming downtown through the detours, according to WRDW. Farther east, Miami Vybz is at 730 Broad, and WRDW profiled Diamond Cuisine, a veteran-owned restaurant at 718 Broad, in its "Open for Business" series.

City guidance says sidewalk access to shops, hotels and restaurants stays open during active work. Travel lanes and median parking are what get restricted.

Where the Parking Went

According to the city, about 30 curb spaces per block can be unavailable while a block is under active construction, and 60 to 70 spaces are affected overall at any one time. To make up for it, the city added 62 temporary spaces and about 50 permanent ones along 12th and Jones streets. The city's parking map now reaches beyond Broad to these areas:

1. Jones Street between 13th and 10th, which is the closest option for the finished west end and Bradley's.
2. The 9th Street Parking Deck, in the middle of the corridor and a short walk to New Moon.
3. Lots along Ellis Street and around 9th and Reynolds, the closest options for market mornings.
4. The Richmond County Board of Education deck, open after 5 p.m. and on weekends, so it works for dinners and Saturdays.

There are also two leased lots, Lot A at 116 James Brown Blvd. and Lot B at 865 Reynolds St. In the city's June update, both were still free with no time limits. Check the project site for their current terms.

When the project is done, the city expects about 625 spaces along the corridor. That compares with about 620 if the pre-construction layout were brought up to current standards. The reduced parking is temporary and follows the active blocks east.

What the East End Gets in December

The block with the longest construction window also gets the biggest changes. Project plans for James Brown Linear Park include color-changing lights, a canopy styled after his album covers, pavers in a sound-wave pattern and an engraved timeline of his music. In June, WRDW reported that ceiling tiles depicting his career had been installed, an interactive water feature was planned, and the statue was set to return on a new stage. The rest of the corridor gets redesigned parking, raised bike lanes, new sidewalks and ramps, clearer crosswalks and more trees, matching what's now going into the 1200 block.

The holiday shows downtown fall within that same schedule. The Imperial Theatre has Steve Dorff's "I Wrote That One Too!" on Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on Oct. 30. Colton Ballet's "The Nutcracker" is Nov. 27. "Frozen" runs Dec. 11 through 13, and "A Charlie Brown Christmas Concert" is Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. That last show falls on the Linear Park block's scheduled finish date, two days after work east of 5th Street is set to begin. For anything at the east end this December, plan to use a deck and walk in.

Lisa Moss and The Moss Group keep track of changes like Broad Street's because they affect what downtown Augusta is like to live near, block by block. If you own near the corridor and want to know how the finished streetscape could figure into your home's value, request a complimentary home valuation or schedule a consultation with Lisa.