The first phase of the $3.7 million 2020 Second Street Reconstruction Project commenced on Tuesday with the closure of Second Street between Prospect Street and Beach Street.
“They’ll be taking the street down to dirt and first replacing all the utilities – the sewer, the water and storm drainage,” Webster City City Manager Jeff Sheridan said of this first phase. “And then we’ll have a new road surface concrete, new curbs, new sidewalks, new street lights and new street trees.”
The city is hoping for this first phase of the project will be completed by the end of the construction season in November.
As of right now, Sheridan said he is not aware of any issue caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in regards to this construction project.
“We did have some concerns about the subcontractors, some of them are traveling from quite a distance, so should the situation get worse and travel be restricted potentially, that could have an impact on the project,” Sheridan said. “But at this point, we’re hopeful that it will proceed without an issue.”
With the east-west road closures on Second Street, the city has set up several detours to help residents navigate the area and still be able to access businesses near the road construction.
“We were actually out this morning going over the signage,” Sheridan said. “In general, you should be able to approach the area under construction, either from the north, the south, the east or the west and be able to determine where you need to go to get to your destination.”
Sheridan said a few businesses got missed with the first round of directions being put up, but that he and the contractors went around to identify those businesses and locations to add more signage and directions.
The 2020 Second Street Reconstruction Project was approved by the city council on March 3, when it awarded Rasch Construction Inc., of Fort Dodge, with the $3,736,816.71 contract for the project.
View this article as it originally appeared in the Daily Freeman-Journal.
Last modified: March 30, 2020