The sounds of big equipment rumbling about will undoubtedly wake up some folks on Monday, May 18 when KGM begins the long awaited Highway 61 roadwork in Grand Marais.
Ed Welch, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Project Engineer said construction would begin on the Broadway Avenue intersection reconstruction.
“For that work, traffic will be detoured on a short local detour, following 1st Ave West and 2nd Street. Additionally, all large truck traffic will be detoured the entire 2020 construction season on a separate Truck Detour that follows County Road 7 from the west end of town to the east end of town, in order to keep truck traffic out of the constricted downtown area. This work is scheduled to be completed by June 26,” he said.
Later in May, Welch said, “Work on the box culvert near 3rd Street will begin, and traffic will be maintained via portable signal systems to allow for alternating one-way traffic on the side of the road/ culvert that is not being worked on.
Also early in the project, the 8th Avenue West intersection is scheduled to be reconstructed.
“The contractor has the option of a flexible start date for this work, needing to start sometime between May 18 and June 15,” Welch said. “Once they start, the work at this intersection will need to be completed within 40 Calendar Days. The job will be split into three stages, in order to be able to maintain traffic through the intersection at all times.”
Starting August 3, the contractors will begin replacing the Fall River Box Culvert, West of town. For this project, all of the traffic on Highway 61 traffic will be detoured along the Truck Detour route along County Road 7. This job is limited to 24 Calendar Days before it is reopened to traffic.
Lastly, said Welch, “There is a Rural Preservation portion of the job. This includes some minor culvert work and a bituminous mill and overlay on the pavement outside of town to the West/ South and East/North. The culvert work will be taking place earlier in the summer, and the paving portion happening later.
“In total, the first year of the project is scheduled to be completed by September 23,” Welch said.
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