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Area road construction wraps up on schedule in Red River Valley

070120.N.GFH.University Avenue workers.jpg
Workers construct a sidewalk corner along University Avenue in Grand Forks, east of the UND campus. City officials say projects such as this are partially funded by federal dollars, making the U.S. Census count all the more important. (Korrie Wenzel/Grand Forks Herald)

Road construction season in northeast North Dakota is coming to an end with most projects slated for 2020 completed.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation Grand Forks District projects, which cost a total of $41.9 million, were launched in May and complete or nearly so, this month.

The projects included a concrete overlay of a 12-mile stretch of the eastbound lane of U.S. Highway 2 from Grand Forks Air Force Base to 69th Street Northeast. Between late May and early this month, the eastbound lane of that stretch of highway was closed to traffic and eastbound traffic was re-routed to the westbound lane.

During the project, 3 inches of asphalt and 8.5 inches of concrete were overlaid, said Ed Pavlish, Grand Forks District assistant engineer. The last time that section of the eastbound lane of U.S. Highway 2 was overlaid with asphalt was in 2006 when 3 inches of asphalt was put on it, Pavlish said..

Other projects in the Grand Forks District this year were: minor rehabilitation of North Dakota Highway 18 from the junction of North Dakota Highway 5 to Grand Forks County Road 55, milling and overlay of U.S. Highway 2 from the Michigan bypass east to the Grand Forks County line, milling and overlay of North Dakota Highway 1 from Highway 26 to the east junction of North Dakota Highway 200 and milling and overlay with pipe repairs from North Dakota Highway 1 from Lakota to near Edmore.

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This summer’s Grand Forks District projects also included three within the city of Grand Forks. They were concrete pavement repair of North Washington Street, milling and overlay of University Avenue from State Street to Third Street and milling and overlay of Fifth Street from U.S. Highway 2 to Demers Avenue.

Meanwhile, the North Dakota Department of Transportation Devils Lake District has completed or nearly completed major rehabilitation projects: U.S. Highway 281 from the south junction of North Dakota Highway 15 through New Rockford, U.S. Highway 2 from North Dakota Highway 19 to the Devils Lake city limits, U.S. Highway 52 from the junction of North Dakota Highway 200 and U.S. 281 to south of Carrington, U.S. Highway 2 west of Devils Lake and U.S. Highway 281 from Sheyenne to near the junction of North Dakota Highway 57. There also was a grade raise project on North Dakota Highway 20 north of Devils Lake.

The weather this summer generally was favorable for completion of the projects, in contrast to last year, said Pavlish and Wyatt Hanson, Devils Lake District engineer.

“Last year, when the contractors were making their big push the weather went bad,” Hanson said.

In 2019 as much as 25 inches of heavy, wet snow fell in Ramsey County from Oct. 10 to Oct. 12. Meanwhile, in the Grand Forks District, the Oct. 10-12 snowstorm was preceded by 20 inches of rain in September and October, Pavlish said.

Ann is a journalism veteran with nearly 40 years of reporting and editing experiences on a variety of topics including agriculture and business. Story ideas or questions can be sent to Ann by email at: abailey@agweek.com or phone at: 218-779-8093.

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