The Austin City Council got to take a quick look at the projects shaping the community Monday.

Four Council members, Mayor Tom Stiehm and a few city employees took a roughly hour-long tour of more than 17 Austin construction projects, some by the city and some by private entities or other government bodies.

“That way the council can see all the stuff they’ve approved,” Public Works Director Steven Lang said.

The tour, in a SMART Transit bus, mainly just drove by the projects without getting out to save on time as Lang gave brief updates on the projects.

The tour started at City Hall and first visited Eighth Avenue and Eighth Street Northeast for a road project that Lang admitted took a long time for the sanitary sewer work, piping, gutter and road work. The project incurred about 15 rain days, according to Lang.

They next toured Austin Municipal Airport, where the council recently approved work and sealing on the tarmac, along with lighting and runway work.

At the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, council members checked out construction going up on the new maintenance building, which is a preface to the new Interpretive Center set to start construction next year.

They also drove through the housing development immediately to the west of the nature center.

“This has really popped up in the last year,” Council Member Steve King said.

They checked out work on Hormel Foods Research and Development property just southwest of Todd Park, the Hormel Institute construction and work on the Hormel Institute housing project for scientists.

They also drove by to see the new Austin Utilities plant construction.

“That’s quite the project,” Lang said.

One of the tough projects for this construction season has been the Turtle Creek I project, which has featured water, sewer, gas and road work. However, Lang said it’s hit a snag recently because the soil underneath the road is a clay that has been hard to work with.

“This project’s been really difficult,” he said.

They’re currently trying to let the clay dry and settle, which has meant several homeowners have had to park at a church and walk to their homes.

Looking ahead to next year, a mill and overlay — not a full reconstruction — is planned on Highway 105, or West Oakland Avenue, near Walgreens, Sterling Main Street and Kwik Trip. The work will continue south where Highway 105 turns onto 12th Street Southwest and runs past the fairgrounds. It is, however, slated to be completed by the Mower County Fair.

The project will include new lights and crossings by Kwik Trip and Walgreens, which will include new signals with yellow turn signals.

Lang said it should be an improvement both for motorists and pedestrians alike.

The tour ended by going past the Waste Water Treatment Plant, the Spam Museum and by making their one stop on the trip at Riverside Arena to see see new base cement, piping and cooling systems installed over the summer.