Cherry Street may not be the most heavily traveled north-south road in Grand Forks, but it will have its share of detours during the summer construction season.
"We thought it was one of the streets that could use a good facelift," said Dean Rau, assistant city engineer. "After this summer, it will last a little longer."
Crews started reconstructing the road, gutter and curb from 17th Avenue South to 25th Avenue South on Monday. Cherry Street is closed from 17th Avenue South to Park Drive, but the intersection of 19th Avenue South remains open. Driveways and sidewalks within the area are also closed. Work is expected to be finished by June 11, weather permitting.
Federal stimulus money received last year will go toward replacing bad stretches of concrete on Cherry Street from 25th Avenue to 47th Avenue South. Access is restricted to local traffic from 25th to 28th Avenue South and 36th to 40th Avenue South. This phase also started Monday and is expected to take a month. Opp Construction is the primary contractor.
"During the resurfacing, Cherry Street residents in that area should be able to access their property through the alley," Rau said.
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Mail delivery, trash collection and recycling will continue as scheduled.
Motorists are advised to take alternate routes, which include taking 17th Avenue South, 19th Avenue South or Park Drive to Oak Street or Belmont Road. Cities Area Transit buses are being rerouted.
Concrete panels also will be replaced on 13th Avenue South from Cherry Street to 20th Street. Rau said it shouldn't affect traffic on South Washington Street, though there may be one-way traffic for 100 to 200 feet at some point.
Access roads and potholes
Work will begin shortly on a south access road to Grand Forks Industrial Park from 16th Avenue South to 32nd Avenue South.
Rau said crews will start on the roadway and ditch this year, but the entire project won't be completed until fall 2011.
Four roads in Grand Forks will be reconstructed because of severe weather damage: 30th Avenue South, 31st Avenue South, 23rd Street South and 18th Street South.
"We had a lot of wet weather in the fall of 2008 that caused large potholes," Rau said.
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Rau said there are plans in 2012 and 2013 to resurface Columbia Road from the overpass past 11th Avenue South to Knight Drive.
East Grand Forks
The Point Bridge in East Grand Forks will be closed this summer, but not because of high water.
The approaches to both the Point and Louis Murray bridges will be resurfaced.
"We're looking probably at a July time frame," said John Wachter, East Grand Forks Public Works superintendent. "We can section off the Murray bridge, but we're going to be paving where the asphalt has slipped a bit at the intersection of First and Third avenues.
