Work has started on Tempe’s Downtown Refresh Project, which will enhance the Mill Avenue Streetscape from University Drive to Rio Salado Parkway. It’s the first renovation of its kind on Mill Avenue in about 40 years. Construction will take
place in multiple phases.

Find information for merchants here.

Improvements:

Mill Avenue:

• Tree canopy
• Heat and drought tolerant species
• Sustainability focus
• Healthy existing Ficus trees will remain
• Some expanded tree planter areas
• New species being introduced:  Ghost Gum Eucalyptus, Tipu, Swan Hill Olive, Chinese Pistache
• Give seasonal color and blooms, variety of canopy shapes
• New electric and irrigation lines
• Irrigation supports trees and plants
• Electric supports special events like
• Festival of the Arts
• Second Sundays
• Holiday Events
• Installation of multi-space parking meters, not single parking meters (improves pedestrian areas)
• New bus shelters
• ADA paving, ramp and push button improvements
• New corner paving treatments
• Remove and replace mid-block pedestrian brick
• Lithomosaic accent paving for Tempe history storytelling
• Upgrade to include all directional pedestrian crossing 5th Street and Mill
  Avenue
• String lighting (Complete by August)
• Fourth Street west side of Mill Avenue
• Sixth Street, east & west sides of Mill Avenue
• Gateway monument signs
• Integration with new restaurants and façade treatments
• Restaurant patios will remain

5^th Street:

• Paving and possible reconfiguration of the city hall west side parking lot

• 5^th Street paving and striping re-fresh

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The construction schedule will accommodate planned events in downtown Tempe and Valley Metro schedules. During construction, access to Mill Avenue businesses will remain open.

Many of the Downtown Tempe renovations are part of the of the Refresh Tempe effort. The program aims to add and maintain Tempe amenities and infrastructure in order to improve quality of life for all community members.

These investments are made in alignment with the City Council's five Strategic Priorities and the city's Performance Measures.

Updates

Notice- Off Hours Work and Traffic Restrictions

In order to make improvements for the Downtown Tempe Streetscape Improvement Project, it will be necessary to work outside of typical work hours for storm drain manhole installation. During this time, back-up alarms, saw cutting, jack hammering, and excavation will occur. Every effort will be made to minimize the noise. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we install this important improvement.

Project timeline and work hours:

Work area: South of the Intersection of Mill Avenue and Fifth Street to Sixth Street

Traffic impacts

• Mill Avenue south of Fifth Street to Sixth Street will be temporarily closed to southbound traffic.

• Southbound traffic on Mill Avenue will be detoured at Fifth Street.

• Northbound left turn movements will be prohibited at Fifth Street and Mill Avenue. 

Mill Avenue Streetscape: from Rio Salado Parkway to University Drive Public Process

The first round of outreach took place in August 2023. View the meeting presentation, meeting recording and public input summary.

Three meetings took place in January 2024. View the meeting presentation or meeting recording.