Clay County concentrates on repaving several roads

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the 10th in a series of regular reports on road and other infrastructure projects this construction season in Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo, Cass County and Clay County.'

MOORHEAD — Clay County Highway Engineer Dave Overbo said they are putting a priority on mill and asphalt overlays on several county roads.

Three projects covering roughly 11 miles are being completed this year with another approximate 25 miles planned for next year. The county has 277 paved miles in its 800 mile system of county roads.

Two of the three paving projects this year are done or almost done.

A $1.27 million paving of about five miles of County Road 2 east of Comstock has already been completed. Overbo said it was nice to have one of the projects out of the way.

Another project on three miles of County Road 23, often called the landfill road as it leads to the Clay County Landfill near Hawley, is also nearly complete with the paving finished last week. Striping on the roadway remains to finish the $728,000 project.

The third project involves three miles of County Road 6 south of Rollag. The project has a cost of $410,000.

In addition, a major effort this summer is a joint project between the county and the city of Hawley on reconstruction of County Road 33 which is north of U.S. Highway 10 in the city.

The project covering almost a half mile involves replacing infrastructure under the roadway with new water mains and sewer lines. Curb and gutter is also being installed.

Overbo said the county's share of the project is $325,000.

Also on the work schedule this summer is the replacement of a bridge and a road realignment on a gravel road about two miles southeast of Sabin on north-south County Road 68 over the south branch of the Buffalo River. Traffic is detoured around the $681,000 project, which is moving along with bridge piers in place. It replaces an outdated bridge which is still standing just to the east of the new bridge.

Overbo said the bridge could be done in about six weeks.

Next year they are tackling even more milling and asphalt paving on some of the busiest county roads, according to Overbo.

Those projects, completed with the help of federal funds, include roughly seven miles of County Road 12 from the Red River south of the Bluestem Amphitheater to the east, about nine miles of County Road 31 south of Hawley and eight miles of County Road 52 which runs from Interstate 94 to Sabin.

Overbo said County Road 12 is one of the busiest county roads carrying about 6,500 vehicles a day as the road is a connector over the Red River between Fargo and Moorhead. He said the project will stretch east of the roundabout on U.S. Highway 75.

Also planned next year is a partnership with the F-M Diversion Authority on rebuilding about 8/10th of a mile of a county road that runs through Comstock. The work will also improve drainage.

In other project updates this week:

64th AVENUE OVERPASS: A contractor is continuing work on installing the 4,000 wick drains on the overpass project over Interstate 29. The drains will make sure water won't affect the embankments for the overpass that are being built up. Crews have started hauling in dirt to raise the embankment on the west side of the interstate while the drains are being installed on the east side.

44th AVENUE NORTH: The new roadway just south of the Amazon distribution center under construction is prepped for paving with concrete pouring started. Amazon is paying for the work, but the city will maintain it.

SEVENTH AVENUE NORTH: The major east-west avenue on the north edge of downtown is advancing from University Drive to the east where it'll connect with the segment of the avenue by the Sanford Broadway Clinic that was completed last year. About two blocks of the avenue from University Drive through 11th Street will all be completed by July 5. Some of the avenue is already open to local traffic near University Drive. The roadway will be closed at the 8th Street North intersection starting this Monday, June 28. In all, the work on what had been called one of the roughest main roadways in Fargo is covering seven blocks this year.

ELM STREET NORTH: Work is continuing this week on the north-south street with an asphalt mill and overlay.

INTERSTATE 29 SOUTH OF FARGO: For those traveling south on I-29, one lane is closed on both sides of the road near the Hickson exit as crossovers are being built in the medians as work progresses on the raising of the interstate as part of the F-M Diversion project. Farther south, NDDOT announced this week that it's working on replacing one bridge deck on an overpass on the Great Bend exit, and doing bridge deck overlays on the Wild Rice River Bridge seven miles south of Fargo and on the BNSF railway bridge about four miles south of the Colfax exit. Lane closures can be expected in those areas with speed reduced to 40 mph and flaggers possible.

INTERSTATE 94 IN FARGO AND WEST FARGO: One of the projects causing the most congestion this year in the city is on Interstate 94 near the I-29 interchange as bridge approaches and expansion joints are being installed on both eastbound and westbound lanes. Assistant District Engineer Joe Peyerl said the work should be done by the first week in July, about a week later than announced earlier. The work has been causing merging difficulties and traffic stoppage. Similar bridge work is also being done on the Veterans Boulevard bridge over the interstate, with that work also set to be finished in about two weeks. Then, crews will start work on yet more bridge work on the 45th Street bridge over the interstate causing lane reductions there.