The City of Crookston Public Works Department has begun and completed several road construction projects through the summer and is continuing with more projects and construction to improve the roads and sidewalks for the city. After being set back for a month and a half, Crookston Public Works Director Brandon Carlson says that all summer road projects are underway and progressing.
LOCAL ROAD RECONSTRUCTION
Local road reconstruction projects had begun all around the city back in June and have now continued around to the next steps of road construction in the city. “Every project for the summer has started, and they’re making pretty good progress on the local road reconstructions on First Avenue North and Second Avenue North,” Carlson explained. “There’s a block on Sunflower Street, and then they’re going to a second wear layer on Eickoff Boulevard. I believe they’re planning on blacktopping in about two weeks or a week and a half from now.” Carlson explained that they’ve been working with RJ Zavoral & Sons to complete the local road projects and add blacktop and hopes that the neighborhoods on those streets will return to everyday travel in the next three weeks. Carlson says that the city crew and public works street teams have also been working on sidewalk work and looking to clean up the bad paving and patching spots around the city to prepare for the MnDOT Corridor Project, which he believes should begin designing and construction in 2025.
POST OFFICE SERVICE LEAK
Carlson then went into the service leak that had been overflowing and leaking out on the sidewalk and roadway in front of the Crookston U.S. Post Office at the intersection of South Broadway and East Fletcher Street. “The Post Office ended up hiring their own private contractor, and they found that the service was leaking on the building’s side of the shutoff. It is unfortunate that the city’s insurance policy didn’t end up covering that,” said Carlson. The Post Office’s contractor began and completed their work on the week of July 11 and has now repaired the leak and sidewalk.
PUBLIC WORKS AND TREES
During the summertime, Director Carlson would like to remind people to be mindful of their yard maintenance and what impact that can have on the Public Works Department’s work and the storm catchers and drains. “Every once and a while, when people mow their yards, they blow grass clippings out in the street, and it creates problems when we get the heavy rainfall, and it washes those clippings and plugs the storm catches at the corners, where it’s supposed to drain and ends up flooding the streets,” Carlson explained. “We understand that you can’t keep them all off the street, but when you’re done, if you could either sweep them up or blow them back in your yard, it helps keep the storm system working like its supposed to and makes sure the roads don’t flood when we have those rains.” He explained that when a drain or sewer gets clogged, the department has to find the drain with a metal detector to clear it and drain the water on the road. While there will inevitably be debris in the street and drains, he noted that the most common and worst cases of blocked drains are the ones with grass clippings in the roadways.
Carlson also mentioned that there are a few trees with ash disease around the city and the department is currently taking inventory of what trees they will cut down in the fall when the temperatures drop to ensure that bugs will not fly out and transmit the disease to other healthy trees in the city.
Pictures of the finished construction on the service leak in front of the post office can be seen below-
