A guide to local road construction

Published 1:28 pm Monday, June 11, 2012

Construction on Fourth Street SW facing north.

With summer officially here, construction crews are hard at work repaving and maintaining area roads. Here are some of the roads and projects from Mower County Public Works and the city Street Department that may affect area motorists and residents.

City of Austin

Fourth Street pavement rehab: The city has finished the northbound lane for an ongoing street repair project on Fourth Street, and is now working on the southbound lane. “The project is right on schedule,” said City Engineer Jon Erichson. He expects work will continue through next week, and the road will fully reopen the week of June 18.

19th Street SE: Crews will continue work on 19th Street SE between Oakland and Fourth avenues for the next three months. The intersection at 19th Street and Oakland Avenue, next to Neveln Elementary School, will be closed for about six weeks, Erichson said. The intersection was left intact while school was in session, but now the city will move forward with work on it.

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Ninth Street NW: A project on Ninth Street NW, stretching from First to Fourth avenues and eventually to Eighth Avenue, will focus on underground utilities. Erichson said the project should take about four months.

Banfield School: The city started reconstruction and street utility work Friday on the Banfield School area. The project has a three-month schedule.

10th Drive: Crews are starting work on 10th Place near KAAL for a mill and overlay to resurface the road. The project should take approximately a week.

Mower County Public Works

Work progresses on Roosevelt Bridge last week.

County Road 2: The $1.5 million project is expected done in a few weeks. The county is repaving the road between Highway 218 and Highway 251. Flaggers have been on site recently to help direct traffic during single-lane closures, but the road has remained open during the work.

Roosevelt Bridge: The Roosevelt Bridge, which crosses the Cedar River on Fourth Street SE, will closed for the foreseeable future as work to restore the historic bridge continues. Public Works Director Mike Hanson couldn’t say when the bridge would open. The restoration work is slated to finish around September, Hanson said. The total project is expected to cost about $3.6 million, but only about $800,000 would be local dollars. About $2.1 would come from federal dollars, and about $800,000 would be from state bonds.

Still no word on possible dry rot at fairgrounds

The county is looking into possible dry rot affecting the grandstands at the Mower County Fairgrounds.

Grandstand of the fairgrounds: Director Mike Hanson and Public Works are heading the county’s investigation into the potential dry rot of the grandstand at the Mower County Fairgrounds. Hanson said a structural engineer has been hired and is running tests to determine if the structural integrity has been affected, but he didn’t know when the engineer would have the results.