Construction Updates
April 9, 2026
The Alley between Thorington Street and Dodge Street will be closed starting tomorrow morning, April 10, to complete the concrete pavement patches. The alley is planned to be reopened Monday morning, April 13 around 8am.
Pending rain totals, Castor plans to have all the concrete work completed by end of next week. Topsoil placement for sod, bio cells, and rain garden areas will continue next week as conditions allow. Landscape subcontractor is scheduled for the week of April 20 to finish up the sidewalk paver work, place sod, and start placing plantings and trees. Benches, final signing and pavement markings will be the last items completed.
April 3, 2026
Project Restart Date: Monday, April 6
Pending rainfall totals over the weekend, Castor Construction has indicated restarting work on the project starting Monday, April 6. Work along Nebraska Street and the south block of Thorington would be first.
Concrete work and site grading are on the schedule for next week. If the weather cooperates, the first pour would happen on Wednesday along the south side of Nebraska Street. If the week goes well, Castor plans to pour back the alley concrete pavement Friday, April 10, to just have the alley closed over the weekend. Affected businesses will be notified prior to any closure.
Castor anticipates around one month of construction activity to compete the project. More updates will follow next week.
December 12, 2025
Nebraska Street, Thorington Street and the parking lot are open to traffic & the public. Sidewalk along Nebraska Street from Thorington Street to Dodge Street is closed. Please leave all signs and cones in place and undisturbed. Business owners and residents on Nebraska and Thorington Street are asked to avoid salt use on sidewalks and pavement in the project area.
The sidewalk pavers near State Street will be installed next week. Work that will not be completed this year includes the mainline sidewalk on the south side of Nebraska Street between Dairy Queen’s driveway and Thorington Street. This includes the sidewalk paver section along the parallel stalls on the south side of Nebraska Street. The alley concrete patches will have to wait until spring too. The contractor will maintain the gravel as needed to keep the alley open all winter.
December 5, 2025
The snow last week made site conditions difficult for progress this week. All the concrete sidewalk along Thorington has been finished and will open next week after cure time. All the remaining work in the street, including traffic signs, will be complete by end of day today (December 5).
With cleanup remaining and forecasts calling for more snow, the roads will remain closed until next week. The alley will remain open and the parking lot will be accessible from the alley, but please note that the city will not be moving snow in the parking lot again this weekend. Business owners are asked to move snow along the sidewalk sections in front of their properties as if the street was open.
Work that will likely not be completed this year includes the mainline sidewalk on the south side of Nebraksa Street between Dairy Queen’s driveway and Thorington Street. That includes the sidewalk paver section along the parallel stalls in the south side of Nebraska Street. If this work is unfinished there will be “No Parking” signs placed for the winter for those few stalls. The alley concrete patches will likely have to wait until spring as well.
The contractor will maintain the gravel as needed to keep the alley open all winter. Contractor plans to be back onsite next week for final clean-up, paver work, and to hopefully open the roads.
November 26, 2025
Due to construction wrapping up on the Nebraska/Thorington Street parking lot, snow will not be removed from this lot during Thanksgiving weekend (November 27 to 30). Individuals with vehicles parked in that lot are asked to move their vehicles out of the lot by Friday night. If a snow emergency goes into effect, the Side “A” and Side “B” alternating parking will not be enforced in this lot during this time.
November 25, 2025
Castor worked all weekend again in preparation for this weeks concrete pours. Rain yesterday pushed everything back a day and it is currently raining here this morning. Still plan to pour concrete this afternoon, as the rain should pass after lunch. As of now, more concrete pours will happen tomorrow. Castor is planning to take Thursday-Sunday off for the holiday and be back onsite Monday. Weather is turning cold so the remaining concrete work will be done as the weather allows.
With the rain yesterday delaying the paver work in the parking lot, Castor has changed plans and will keep the alley open the rest of this week. The parking lot will remain assessable from the alley until further notice.
November 19, 2025
Concrete crew has been making good progress along Nebraska Street. All curb and mainline pavement is complete. Work on the decorative colored sidewalk along the north side of Nebraska Street and in the parking lot is scheduled to be finished tomorrow. There is a small amount of concrete sidewalk work along the south side of the State and Thorington intersection that is scheduled to start tomorrow for removal and replacement of the pedestrian ramps. Remaining sidewalk on the south side of Nebraska and remaining areas along Thorington will follow next week. Backfilling and topsoil placement will take place next week or the following week as weather allows. The final two cells of the permeable pavers in the south end of the parking lot are planned to be completed Monday next week.
Castor plans to pour the patches in the alley early next week (starting Monday afternoon or Tuesday – depending on completion of paver work in the parking lot). The alley will be closed during this work between Dodge and Thorington. They plan to use high-early concrete to be able to reopen the alley 24-36 hours after pouring. Expected to be back open Friday morning (Nov. 28th). During the alley closure Thorington Street will be open from State Street to the parking lot entrance. The parking lot will be open to come and go as needed along Thorington. Walking access to the business back entrances will be maintained from the parking lot.
All work for the season is expected to be complete by December 15th at the latest. We expect the roads to be open before then. The parking lot will be fully open the first week of December. All trees and plantings will be completed in the spring.
October 2, 2025
Concrete crew has completed the mainline paving on Thorington south of Nebraska and is actively working on the north block. Concrete work will continue everyday as the weather allows. The alley crossing at Thorington will remain closed until the concrete work is completed.
The parking lot paving is mostly complete. The permeable paver subcontractor will be onsite next week to install the pavers in the cells in the middle and north portion of the lot. Paver work is estimated to take 5-10 days. Once that work is complete the plan would be to open those stalls in the parking lot to employees and residents only with access in and out of the alley from Dodge Street.
Underground crew will be back in town next week to start wrapping up the underground work along Nebraska Street. Underground will take approximately 2 weeks.
September 19, 2025
Concrete crew worked when they could this week setting forms in the parking lot and south block of Thorington. Rain held off today to get started pouring curb & gutter on the project. Concrete crew plans to pour everyday next week to get the parking lot and street paving done in the south block.
Underground crew will be finished with all utilities in the north block of Thorington early next week. They plan to move to Nebraska Street to start work on sanitary sewer in the final block. A day or two of removals will be needed before pipe work can start.
Grading crew plans to start subcutting and installing drain tile in the Nebraska Street intersection and north block of Thorington next week. As they work north the alley will be closed more often with soil excavation and tile installation. The closure this week was longer than expected with the rains, but everyone seemed to manage it fine. Please reach out Matt or Claire if the alley closures are a problem. They alley plans to be fully closed when concrete work is being performed to protect the workers and prevent damage while the concrete is curing.
As stated in the last update, they plan to continue working on Saturdays, with the exception of Band Day on October 4th.
September 10, 2025
Castor plans to close the north alley again next Monday, September 15th for storm sewer installation. The alley is planned to remain closed until Wednesday afternoon for this work.
All sanitary, storm and watermain work is complete in the south block of Thorington. Castor plans to start subcutting and installing subdrain later this week. Gravel placement in preparation for concrete paving will follow next week. KW Electric will also be onsite running conduit for street lights in that block. Underground crew will continue working on storm sewer up to State Street before starting work on the final block of Nebraska between Thorington and Dodge Street.
Parking lot is taking shape with the grading expected to be compete tomorrow. The concrete crew will be onsite next week paving in the parking lot.
Working on Saturday is expected though completion of this project. The fair weather the past couple weeks has helped get caught back up with all the rain this season but Castor plans to continue working at least half days on Saturday as the weather allows.
August 25, 2025
Castor attempted to install two water services near the north side of alley south of State Street today. The water services were found south of the alley so the alley is closed and will remain closed until late afternoon tomorrow to finish up the water service installation. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Castor plans to continue working on water and sanitary sewer services in the north block of Thorington this week. Grading work will continue on the south end of Thorington at McGregor. Concrete is planned to start later this week at that intersection. The Recycle Center lot will remain closed until early next week once the concrete has met the cure time in McGregor Street. The lane shift will also remain in place until early next week.
August 13, 2025
Castor plans to start work on the storm sewer at Thorington and McGregor tomorrow. The lane shift will be set up until that work is completed. Access to the recycle center will be from the east on McGregor only and exit out the alley back to Dodge Street.
Castor still has water and sanitary sewer service work to complete in the north block of Thorington. With the amount of heavy rain their focus has shifted to getting the storm sewer work on McGregor completed first, so the grading and concrete crew can start pouring concrete at the south end of the project. Grading and tile work will continue in the parking lot for the next several days.
August 7, 2025
Castor plans to make the connection to the existing watermain near State Street on Monday. To make this connection, a water shutdown will take place from 10 AM to 12 PM. The businesses affected by this shutdown will be Billie Jo’s, Algona Hearing Center, SJLB Law Office, Apartments above 6 & 8 W. State Street, POW Museum, Culligan, and Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency. AMU will hang door notices for the affected businesses.
Castor has completed watermain construction up Thorington Street and plans to start making water service connections in the coming week. With those water service connections there will be a short water shutdown at each property to switch over to the new watermain. After water service connections, the underground crew will work on installing storm sewer starting at McGregor Street and begin working north up Thorington Street. Once the underground is complete the concrete crew can pour back the McGregor Street intersection panels.
The alley behind State Street is planned to remain open until water service connections are made in the alley.
The parking lot has been excavated and graded. In the coming weeks, there will be more tile and aggregate placed as the weather allows.
July 31, 2025
The watermain construction is finally up to the north alley crossing. Castor plans to close the alley early in the morning and reopen it by the evening. Please coordinate all deliveries to State Street or Dodge Steet.
The wet weather the past three weeks has impacted progress. Castor has been able to work on watermain some, but grading efforts in the parking lot have been difficult with all the rain. The forecast is looking better in the coming weeks, and the contractor plans to finish up watermain early next week and start on storm sewer back in the Thorington/McGregor intersection. Once the underground is done the concrete crew can work on pouring back the McGregor Street intersection panels. The grading crew will continue to subcut and place aggregate to prepare for concrete work in the parking lot.
July 10, 2025
The watermain connection to McGregor went well on Tuesday. The lane shift on McGregor will be removed by end of day today. A temporary gravel patch will remain in place until concrete paving takes place. More work in that intersection is expected once storm sewer underground begins. Castor plans to continue watermain work north on Thorington. Alley behind State Street will be closed again for one day, possibly late next week. An update will be sent when the closure time is known.
The grading crew started placing tile, structures and aggregate in the parking lot this week too. Grading work will continue throughout the parking lot in the coming weeks as the weather allows.
Due to Founder’s Day, Castor will not be working on the project Friday or Saturday per the City’s requirements. Enjoy the Founder’s Day festivities!
July 3, 2025
All the Sanitary sewer main and manholes on Thorington are complete. Watermain work will begin Monday at the intersection of Thorington and McGregor Street. With the work a lane shift will be set up to McGregor Street to remain 2-way traffic. No parking will be allowed on McGregor from Hall Street to Dodge Street during the intersection work.
The alley behind State Street is planned to remain open with the temporary Thorington crossing until the watermain installation in that area begins (in approximately two weeks). At that time, another one or two day closure will occur and it will be reopened once work is completed.
With the watermain work in the McGregor Street intersection, a water shutdown has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 8th from 8:30am to around noon. This shutdown only affects the water connections on both sides of McGregor Street between Hall Street and Dodge Street. AMU has hung door notices for the affected homes and businesses.
June 27, 2025
With the rain this week, the temporary gravel alley crossing Thorington closure will now be Monday and Tuesday next week (June 30-July 1). Castor is hopeful they can get the sanitary manhole and main replaced in one day but with the number of utilities in that area they have planned a two day effort. The alley will remain accessible from Dodge Street as a dead end. The temporary gravel crossing will be replaced and reopened for through alley access after the underground is complete.
K&W was able to work on some foundations this week. The rain affected the grading crew’s ability to work, and they will try again next week.
June 20, 2025
Castor has made good progress on the sanitary sewer on Thorington this week, even with the rains. They plan to continue sanitary sewer main north next week. The alley temporary gravel crossing on Thorington will be closed to set the new manhole and connect to the alley sewer mains sometime next week. The forecast is looking wet, so that closure timeline is unknown. More updates to follow.
Castor plans to start work on the parking lot grading, tile and aggregate sections Monday, if the weather allows. K&W Electric has been working on conduit installations in the parking lot and will continue working onsite next week.
June 5, 2025
Pavement removals on Thorington and the alley roof drain work is progressing quickly and will be completed today. With that, the parking lot will be closed starting Friday, June 6, for pavement removals. Please coordinate employee parking and, if possible, let customers know the impact. The city lot at the corner of Nebraska and Moore Street is going to be the best spot for employee parking to keep the most on street parking available.
All current alley disturbance will be graveled back for access by end of day today. Alley access from Dodge Street will be the primary alley entrance point moving forward once the parking lot is closed. Castor plans to place gravel across Thorington Street after pavement removals to exit the alley west down a block to Hall Street.
Castor plans to start work on the sanitary sewer main at the south alley of Thorington Street, Monday, June 9. Sewer usage will not be affected by any of this work.
June 2, 2025
With the rain forecast for tomorrow, pavement removals have been pushed to Wednesday, June 4. Castor is sawing the pavement limits of construction today, so traffic control and closures are also in place along N. Thorington and a portion of Nebraska Street. The parking lot will remain open and accessible from E. Nebraska Street, or the alley coming in from the east off Dodge Street. The access from Dodge Street will be the primary alley entrance point moving forward. Castor plans to place gravel across Thorington Street after pavement removals to exit the alley west down a block to Hall Street.
Minor removals and pipe work are scheduled for the alley this week. Castor plans to install those quickly and gravel the holes back for access. Only minor interruptions are expected, and the parking lot will be accessible for deliveries off Nebraska until the pipe crossings are all complete.
As long as the alley work goes to plan, the parking lot is planned to be closed starting Friday, June 6, for pavement removals. Please coordinate employee parking and, if possible, let customers know the impact. The city lot at the corner of Nebraska and Moore Street is going to be the best spot for employee parking to keep the most on street parking available.
We know access and parking are concerns for many on the project. Please reach out if issues arise that warrant adjustments to the access plan. We thank you for your patience and understanding throughout the construction.
May 30, 2025
Removal limits have been marked out and traffic control devices are stockpiled onsite. Castor Construction, prime contractor for the project, is planning to start saw cutting on Monday, June 2. At this time, just the south block of Thorington is planned to be closed starting Monday. Another update will be sent next week with the date to expect the parking lot and north block of Thorington to close. That will depend on the weather forecast and how fast removals progress. The first underground utility replacement will be the sanitary sewer in the south block of Thorington.
The sidewalk is planned to remain in place for as long as possible for walking access for residents and businesses. Alley access is planned to be maintained, from at least one direction, for the majority of the project. Communication through these eblasts and/or door hangers will be provided for construction closures, water service interruptions, access coordination with businesses and residents, etc. as the project progresses thought each phase of construction.