This one goes out to Old South Barstow, everybody. Let’s hear it for downtown Eau Claire’s old main drag, last seen in one piece in the early morning light of May 28, right before the heavy machinery rolled in to do its dirty work. It’s gone for good, its concrete crushed to dust, its trees chipped to chips. It’s just dirt and construction dudes as far as the eye can see ... by which I mean “five blocks.”

Goodbye, Old South Barstow. You’d been around for 40 years, and I hardly knew ya. The burly men in hard hats are already building your replacement.

By some magnificent stroke of luck, my entire professional life has existed downtown. From my first real job to this very moment, I have worked downtown, and that’s meant many days walking and driving up and down Barstow Street. I got to know its nooks and crannies. (I like the nooks better than the crannies). I had my favorite benches. My favorite trees. And believe it or not, I’ve even felt genuine affection for certain chunks of Old South Barstow curb. (I’m looking at you, bump-out near Gray Street, wherever you’ve gone.)

By some magnificent stroke of luck, my entire professional life has existed downtown. From my first real job to this very moment, I have worked downtown, and that’s meant many days walking and driving up and down Barstow Street. I got to know its nooks and crannies. (I like the nooks better than the crannies).

Years ago, I wrote about a huge personal revelation I had while standing all by myself at the intersection of South Barstow and Main Street, waiting for the crosswalk light to change. And now the hunk of concrete I was standing on is just gone.

But I knew this was coming, and for months I’ve been ready to move on. I’m looking forward to New South Barstow.

Not everyone is like me. A huge chunk of Eau Claire probably doesn’t even know about the reconstruction (let alone care about it). And others didn’t see it coming. Once they heard about it, many people were just surprised this was even happening. “What?!” they balked. “Why would the city do this to us? It was a perfectly fine street!”

Well, believe it or not, the city didn’t just up and decide one day to hop into the front-end loaders and grab the cement saws screaming “Rip’er up, boys!” because they were bored with how it looked. The project’s been on the books for years and has as much to do (or more) with the infrastructure below the street as above. However, since tearing apart Barstow Street is something you can only do every 50 years or so, the city knew this was a chance to redesign the street – fix its problem areas and greatly enhance its looks and functionality. That’s the plan, anyway.

But people were still caught off guard and, I’m wondering where the fault lies. Are people paying enough attention to important civic projects? Is the city effective enough in its PR on projects like this – and the meetings that lead up to them?  

I know Volume One has been talking about this project in some form since 2010, giving it far more attention than other street projects, except for the extreme(ish) makeover Eau Claire’s Hastings Way received back in 2011. Maybe it was too much coverage and some people just tuned it out.

I’m kinda thinking that when most people hear “street construction,” they sigh and just move on. They’re used to dealing with annoying detours and big orange signs, so they just resign themselves to the news. And then, when out of nowhere they see pictures of the treeless dirt road that is now the Heart of Eau Claire, it’s kind of shocking.

I don’t worry about these people too much. They’ll get over it. The people I worry about are the owners of small shops and restaurants who rely on customers actually walking through their front doors. Downtown is still open to foot traffic, and there’s parking all over, but there’s a mental block that will need to be overcome.

And let’s not forget about all the people who actually live downtown. I feel for them and all they’ll need to tolerate in the next few months, between the increased noise and decreased accessibility.

Once the finishing touches on the New South Barstow are, um, finished, I’m hopeful for a big payoff. I think it’s going to be good, people. And if we can all hang on and hang in there until the street is reborn, I know its going to be a big win for the downtown area and Eau Claire in general. There’s been so much attention given to Phoenix Park, with its gorgeous river views and fancy office buildings and farmy farmers market. The Barstow Street reconstruction can only bring much-deserved attention to the rest of downtown – the “old” downtown.

And I can’t wait to see it.