The current scene on Wabash Avenue in the Loop is a bit cluttered. Green mesh lines chain link fences and sandbags lay on hammered, uneven concrete surfaces and on fence ties. Concrete barriers line the sidewalks and close off southbound traffic lanes. Construction workers sit with their lunch pails and white hard hats. Wooden boards lie on top of holes and lead into temporary entrance ways to businesses and schools. The noise of jackhammers and equipment sound loudly.

Dan Thompson / The Chronicle

A construction crew member works on the vaulted sidewalk outside Columbia’s 33 E. Congress Parkway Building on May 7. Construction has just begun on the west side of the street. The majority of the work is expected to be done by November.

But that will all change by the end of this year.

The city has entered into its second phase of an improvement and beautification project to enhance the Wabash Avenue corridor from Wacker Drive on the north to Harrison Street on the south. Construction is expected to be completed in November, said Brian Steele, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Construction began on the project in July on the west side of the street and has recently moved to the east side of the street.

The beautification project, which costs $23 million from city funds, is focused on installing new lighting for pedestrians and motorists, sidewalk planters, lighting on the elevated tracks and making the avenue cohesive with the rest of downtown. The city is doing this by painting the el tracks to match the hue of the bridges that extend over the Chicago River, Steele said.

“The vision behind the project is to establish a strong identity for the corridor, to improve the lighting, to improve the experience for both pedestrians and motorists and to tie it all together with a series of infrastructural improvements,” Steele said.

Wells Street to the west of Wabash Avenue saw similar improvements not long ago.

Steele said another aspect of the work that is highly involved is doing sidewalk and vaulted sidewalk repairs.

“In a lot of downtown and in a lot of the neighborhoods throughout the city, we have what we call ‘vaulted sidewalks,’” Steele said. “Underneath the sidewalks is an open space, an open vault. They date back to the turn of the century when the city was raised up a level. Not all of it is empty space, but some of it is.”

Crews are working on filling empty vaulted sidewalks with concrete to give them more structural support and reduce the number of future repairs, Steele said.

One of the areas where construction crews are currently working is on the corner of Congress Parkway and Wabash Avenue, where Columbia’s 33 E. Congress Parkway Building is located. One of the vaulted sidewalks the crews are working on is located on top of the Audio Arts & Acoustics Department located in the lower level of the building.

Benj Kanters, the acting chair of the Audio Arts & Acoustic Department, said although there’s been some water leakage and concerns about noise, the city and the college have coordinated, discussed and have tried to minimize any imposition from the construction. Kanters said these things are all just part of the construction process and are to be expected.

The department has to relocate its live sound reinforcement class to the South Campus Building, 624 S. Michigan Ave.

“They will be there until the work is done, right before the summer semester, and we will have them moved back in before the beginning of classes the last week of this month,” Kanters said.

The Audio Arts & Acoustics Department plans to go in and clean the dust and debris once the sidewalk is sealed.

Aside from the work further toward Harrison Street, minor problems have come from the construction.

Mark Lloyd, associate vice president of Marketing and Communications and chief marketing officer at Columbia, said there have been accessibility issues at the 218 S. Wabash Building, but those issues should be resolved once construction ends shortly. Lloyd said visitors and guests have had trouble finding the entrance.

The city’s only run-in has been the weather, Steele said. The winter conditions carried over into late March.

Steele said although the construction is expected to wrap in November, supplementary items like planting and electrical work will spill over after the majority of the work is complete.