County Road 8 – Devil’s Track Road – is in the middle of construction, and completion of the project isn’t going to happen this year as planned, thanks to the state government shutdown. County Engineer David Betts informed the county board on August 23, 2011 that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) pulled KGM Contractors off the job to finish what it had started on Highway 61 at Split Rock before the shutdown in July. KGM started its work on County Road 8 when the shutdown started.
KGM would be available to put asphalt down on County Road 8 by mid-October, but the weather is likely to be too cold by then for paving, Betts said. He hopes to avoid leaving the road in the condition Highway 61 was in—full of large potholes—when the state shutdown started.
Some gravel will be lost to plowing over the winter, and some spots might become soft from salt, Betts said. The “silver lining” in waiting until next summer—probably June—to pave the Devil’s Track Road is that giving the road time to settle before paving will result in a better road in the long run, he said.
In the meantime, Devil’s Track Road is getting very washboardy through the construction zone, Betts said, but the road is dry and grading is ineffective under dry conditions.
Keeping driving speeds within the construction zone speed limit of 35 m.p.h. is very important, Betts said. “Everybody should work road construction during traffic sometime,” he said. “It is terrifying.”
Highway Maintenance Supervisor Russ Klegstad said some people have complained about the amount of brush the county has removed from roadsides. They were more “aggressive” in their brushing this year than they were in the past, he said. He reported that the department is also getting a lot of compliments on their work.
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