Preparation work began on the reconstruction of Fisher Avenue/County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 11 on Monday, and the work will begin Tuesday, June 8.
The reconstruction will take place from the railroad tracks (by the high school) to the east past Drafts Sports Bar and Grill. CSAH 11 will also get a bituminous overlay from the end of the reconstruction to CSAH 46. “It is finally here. We have been planning the reconstruction for about four years. We received funding from the state, about a million dollars in bonds, we are spending $1.8 million in our local option sales tax to reconstruct Fisher Avenue,” said Polk County Highway Engineer Rich Sanders. “Signs are up, detour signs are in place, and traffic will start being detoured today for a project that is supposed to be completed by September 1.”
Sanders said the pavement was getting to the point of replacement. “The pavement was getting to the point of having to overlay it at some point. The road from the railroad tracks to the east was a rural section, and now we will make it an urban section,” said Sanders. “We will be putting in curb and gutter, storm sewer, and it will be three lanes of traffic like west of the tracks. We will have one lane of traffic each way and a center turning lane, making traffic flow much better in that stretch. With the curb and gutter and storm sewer, we are hoping to take care of the wet areas along Fisher Avenue that may or may not be so sightly to your eyes and mosquitos and everything else.”
When the project is done, a new concrete sidewalk will be wider than the current bike path. “We will have sidewalks on both sides of Fisher Avenue, so if kids need to get from the high school to the arena, they will have a walking path to get there and not have to cross Fisher Avenue to get there,” said Sanders. “We will also put two sets of rapid flash beacons, which is a safety aspect at intersections or crossings that the Feds say work really well, instead of the flashing LED you have at North Broadway. The beacon will be more intense, strobe-like, and kids will be able to cross safer at that location and also at Barrette Street so kids can get from the south-side of Fisher Avenue to the arena more safely.”
The detour will take traffic north on Polk County State Aid Highway 54 for two miles and west on State Aid Highway 57 back on 75 to Highway 2 towards Grand Forks. The same way in reverse from the west to east of Crookston. For residents of Crookston on the north end, there will be an adjustment in their usual routes to places like the school. “Evergreen and St. Mary’s will be blocked off, and we won’t allow traffic to enter Fisher Avenue at those locations,” said Sanders. “We are hoping the intersections at North Broadway and the intersection at Barrette Street stay open for a lot of the project.”
One big question is how do you get to Casey’s, Drafts Sports Bar and Grill, and the Crookston Sports Center. “We have given them four days to complete the stretch from the tracks past Casey’s. So, they will need to finish that work in about four days. Once they have that stretch open, they will be able to have access to Fisher Avenue from the tracks to Casey’s,” said Sanders. “The intersection at Barrette Street will be open for most of the project, and they have one day to finish the intersection, so there will be one day where it will be closed. You will be able to use the intersection at Barrette Street 99 percent of the time. We have received permission from the City of Crookston to use the Crookston Sports Center parking lot to direct traffic to Drafts Sports Bar and Grill. So, you should be able to get to Drafts and the arena if needed at any time. You will have to pay attention to how you are going to get there.”
Sanders said communication is going to be important in this project. “We are going to be overcommunicating the process of this project on our Facebook page and go there to see how construction is going,” said Sanders. “We have also leased a camera we will set up at the arena in the southwest corner of the parking lot to watch how construction is going and how the traffic patterns are going. We will have a project update on our website too.”
Sanders added that the most important part of the road is making it as safe as possible for vehicles and pedestrians. Sanders said he chose September 1 as the completion date for the sugarbeet pre-pile as the road is used by many farmers hauling sugarbeets to American Crystal. 6,000 cars a day use Fisher Avenue.
