The Grand Forks City Council tonight will discuss whether it wants to expand Columbia Road to six lanes as part of a rebuilding project for the street.
The council's Service and Safety Committee voted last week to pursue the six-lane option. Committee Chairman Curt Kreun said the road needs to be rebuilt and it made more sense to widen it to accommodate projected traffic increases rather than leave it at four lanes and be forced to widen it later.
"If you rebuild it, you might as well rebuild it as six lanes," he said. "You probably won't get a chance to go back and widen it again."
Work on the road will start next year between DeMers Avenue and 11th Avenue South. The next phase will rebuild the road from 11th Avenue to 14th Avenue South starting in 2014.
The six-lane option would cost $1.16 million more than the four-lane option, according an engineering report on the project. The total cost of $11.66 million would be covered by city, state and federal sources.
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Another reason to widen now, Kreun said, was that access to state and federal money is less certain in the future.
Before the council meeting, there will be a meeting of the Jobs Development Authority. It will consider two requests for Growth Fund loans for business expansions.
Britton Transport is planning a $3.9 million facility in Grand Forks and is requesting a $161,538 loan. Lean Technologies plans a $6.5 million investment for equipment at its Grafton operation and is requesting a $40,000 loan. Both loans would be used to reduce interest rates on the projects' financing.
The companies expect to add 94 jobs through the expansions, according to their loan applications.
