Grand Forks City Engineer Al Grasser reviewed on Monday the city's budget for upcoming construction projects and its strategy for 2019 roadwork.
Using preliminary numbers, Grasser said the city was looking at a 2019 budget outlook of about $4.2 million total. About $2.4 million will come from the city's 80 percent share of special assessment projects, $596,000 will come from the citizen shares, and about $1.2 million will make up projects funded completely by the city.
"2019 is going to be a really big year," Grasser told council members. "(There's) a lot of reconstruction. We're looking at University Avenue, DeMers Avenue and a piece of Cherry Street."
Other 2019 projects include a mill and overlay on South 17th Street and rehab work at pieces of South 42nd Street and North Washington Street.
Regarding strategy, many of the city's projects this year will focus on keeping existing roads in a state of good repair. Grasser stressed it's better for the city to spend less money on maintenance projects now than more money on larger reconstruction projects in a few years after doing nothing for city roads.
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The city will also inevitably have to repair roads that current weather conditions are beating up right now.
"I don't think anybody really predicted Washington (Street) was going to fall apart as bad as it did last year," Grasser said, referring to the road city engineers had to fast-track a mill and overlay on earlier this year.
For 2020, the city will consider mill and overlays on University Avenue and North Fifth Street. Council members also talked more on Monday night about the "Coulee to Columbia project" to not only reconstruct University Avenue, but to make it more pedestrian friendly and navigable.
