Times Observer file photo City officials have been discussing what will go in the center of the roundabout at Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street for some time. While those plans aren’t settled, the work to finish the center will not take place until the spring.

Downtown construction was a major story line in 2023.

The project — a roundabout at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street — had been hotly debated for several years before the intersection was transformed during this construction season.

Back in 2022, the Warren City Council sent a letter to PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian in February asking that work on the roundabout at Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue stop and a traditional traffic signal be installed.

PennDOT responded and the message was succinct: “The opportunity to pause and change direction has passed.”

A staging area was set up at the base of Market Street in an agreement approved by the City Council in February.

Bob Cummins Construction LLC, a Bradford firm, was selected to perform the work, kicking off construction in early April.

The work was completed in four phases over five months that brought various lane closures downtown.

The improvement project included construction of a single-lane roundabout with sidewalk and crosswalks, truck aprons, and updated lighting and drainage.

Outside of the daily traffic interruptions, a major downtown event changed course this year — the Fourth of July parade.

Instead of proceeding downtown, the parade stayed on the east side and organizers said the change was well received.

“Nothing but positive,” Fourth of July organization chairman Bill Thompson said in the wake of the parade. “I had some people say, ‘Why don’t you do this every other year?'”

“A lot of people were saying that it looked like there were more people in the yards,” he said. “They were having picnics.”

That isn’t a possibility along much of the route through downtown. The plan is to return to a normal route in 2024.

The intersection reopened in mid-September, though a final layer of asphalt was still needed. That was done in stages so as not to require a full closure.

The major remaining question – and one which will extend well into 2024 – will center on what will be done with the center island of the roundabout.

There’s electrical access in the middle so any element would have to be placed off the circle’s center.

A city committee had discussed a three tree proposal at a meeting in September, supplemented by river rock and mulch.

But by November the final outcome was much less settled.

City Arborist Joe Reinke said the city has “gone through 10 different ideas,” though said at a meeting that a flagpole will be part of the design.

There are three feet of topsoil in the center in addition to the clay and dirt base that is underneath the intersection.

City officials previously indicated that accent lighting would also be a part of the project.

Whatever the final answer is, it won’t be placed until the spring.