Grove Plaza's south spoke will remain open — intermittently — after all

A team of safety experts determined over the weekend that the public can, at times, safely access Downtown Boise's Grove Plaza through the south spoke while a crane works on construction of a concourse that will cross over the spoke, said Doug Woodruff, project manager for Capital City Development Corporation, Boise's urban renewal agency and owner of the Grove.

Last week, the agency announced that the south spoke would close Monday and stay closed until Dec. 1. But a team of experts for construction contractor ESI analyzed the work and decided there would be windows of time during which the spoke could stay open, Woodruff said.

The timing and duration of those windows isn't set, Woodruff said. That schedule should come Thursday when ESI's team provides a more detailed safety plan, he said.

The south spoke should reopen permanently by Dec. 1, Woodruff said.

"All in all, it's going to be less time that it's closed," he said.

Woodruff expects the south spoke to be open for this weekend's FitOne Expo, a series of competitive and noncompetitive walking and running events, including stroller waves for moms and dads, that attracts thousands of people.

FitOne activities start Thursday at Boise Centre, a convention venue on the Grove's southwest side that belongs to Greater Boise Auditorium District.

The concourse is part of the $7 million second phase of an expansion of Boise Centre. It will connect the main Boise Centre building across the south spoke and Sports Zone, a bar on the back side of The Grove Hotel, to Boise Centre East, a new building on the east side of the Grove Plaza that contains a ballroom, industrial-scale kitchen and related space.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Grove Plaza's south spoke will remain open — intermittently — after all."