PROJECTS

Project Overview:

Construction began in June 2015 and will conclude June 2016 for this Federal and State Aid project. The nearly 3 mile long project required coordination with multiple agencies and balancing County, State, Federal and Local City funding to construct a new east-west connection of regional significance between Highway 101 and Interstate I-94. The project includes a new shared use bituminous trail, drainage improvements and a roundabout at the intersection of CSAH 37 and 70th Street.

Project Schedule:

Construction began in late June of 2015 with the closing of 70th Street and CSAH 37. New portions of road were constructed including a new roundabout, concrete work, and the first of two lifts of bituminous pavement. The 2015 construction work concluded the first week of November with the opening of all roads to traffic prior to winter.

The shared-use trail remains to be completed as well as the final lift of bituminous. We anticipate construction to resume as soon as spring load restrictions are lifted such that the work will be complete by June 1, 2016.

Construction Updates:

10/2/2015

Concrete curb and gutter was poured this week and should be wrapped up today. There is still the hand work to be done around the storm sewer structures, in the medians near the roundabout and at the driveways. All the utility should be done digging and are in the process of making final connections and switching over to the new lines. The last couple of power poles were removed mid-week allowing these areas to be completed with subgrade corrections and covered with sand and gravel.

Just a reminder that the concrete needs 72 hours to cure before it can be driven over (should be good to go by Monday, October 5). Accommodations for accessing your property have been made via using the gravel bike trail temporarily or leaving half the driveway open and they will pour the rest at a later date. Please be careful around the newly poured concrete.

10/9/2015

The gravel continues to get some finishing touches along the entire project ahead of the paving crew. The concrete curb has all been placed and looks good. One section of curb in the roundabout was driven over during the night late last week or this past weekend before everything had set up and broke some curb. Topsoil and ditches are being finish graded where they can until the paving and shoulder is complete sometime next couple weeks. The paving started Wednesday and will take about 6 days to complete the first 2 lifts. The third lift will not be completed until next spring except in the roundabout area. The Thursday morning rain didn’t stop them from paving as the road held up very well considering the amount of heavy truck traffic involved with the paving. Only one small area has to be left out until things dried out a little. Paving along CSAH 37 should be completed by the end of today and then they will head west along 70th Street. The crews will working this Saturday as well.

Just about all the utilities lines have been switched over now and the old lines removed. All the temporary communication lines that were previously laying on the ground along the right-of-way have been removed except along the south/east side of CSAH 37.

10/16/2015

This entire project is now paved with the first 2 of 3 lifts except in the roundabout where it is completely finished so the curb is protected from the snow plows for the winter. Next spring the final lift will be placed on the remainder of the project. When possible we like to allow a road to go through a freeze/thaw cycle before paving the last lift because many of the potential issues like settling or soft spots in the road will show up after the first winter and they can be corrected easier.

The contractor is also working to finish spreading topsoil and finish grading the ditches. Driveways have been shaped and a few are ready to be paved. The contractor was supposed to be in today to pave driveways but it sounds like it will be next Tuesday now. Those driveways that had a special gravel will receive the same type of material next week as well. The bike trail is being prepare to have gravel placed along the entire length. They will be doing this most of next week. The concrete base for the lighting at the roundabout has been poured and once the concrete has cured the lights can start to be installed. Signage, striping and erosion control will all be started next week as well.

11/5/2015

It’s been a couple weeks since the last update. As most of you are aware by now CSAH 37 has been reopened to traffic. The CSAH 37 portion of the project was October 23 as expected but the remainder of the street west of the roundabout has remained closed. We had hoped that all of 70th Street would be reopened by October 30 but since it rained the entire week leading up to that it was not possible. The contractor has attempted to deal with the water and rain as best as they could this week to get the rest of the ditches top soiled and stabilized. These activities will not be completed this week but all of 70th Street/CSAH 37 will be opened by the end of the day Friday, November 6.

The first 2 lifts of pavement have been placed along the entire project as well as the final lift in the roundabout. The final lift of asphalt will be placed on the project next spring. All striping has been completed and all the signage will be in place prior to the road opening tomorrow. A couple more street lights are still going to be installed in the roundabout and at the intersection of MacAllister Avenue in the near future. All driveways should be completed for the winter at this point. When the trail is paved next year a little more work will be needed around some of these.

The ditches have been graded so that water can flow but in some areas they have not been finish graded (mostly west of Nadala Avenue). This work will need to completed next spring as the soil will no longer dry out and they will be doing more damage than good by trying to grade or place topsoil anymore. The contractor will continue to place mulch and erosion control blanket.Typically the blanket will be placed ~200 ft upstream of any place the storm water will discharge from the site. The rest of the seed and mulch will not be placed until we get a snow cover. We do not want to place the seed and mulch now because with the warm weather the seed could start to geminate and then freeze which would killed it all. The mulch is used to “anchor” the seed and stabilize the slopes and needs to be worked into the soil. Since the contractor is unable to get any equipment on the slopes without causing damage we needed to find an alternative. So we are stabilizing all storm water “exit” points with erosion control blanket and silt fence or bio logs (mesh tubes filled with straw or mulch) and will wait until the ground is frozen and there is snow cover. As the seed and mulch melt into the snow it will be held in place as until next spring.

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