C.S.A.H. 34 & C.S.A.H. 35 Improvements

Brown County & the City of Sleepy Eye

St. Mary’s Street / 3rd Avenue NE and 1st Avenue Improvements

Project Overview

This summer, Brown County and the City of Sleepy Eye will be improving parts of two County Roads through Sleepy Eye: County State Aid Highway (C.S.A.H.) 34 and County State Aid Highway (C.S.A.H.) 35. This work will be split into two different sections. The general contractor will be M.R. Paving & Excavating.

C.S.A.H. 34 – St. Mary’s Street and 3rd Avenue NE State Aid Project No. 008-634-011

The work on C.S.A.H. 34 will begin on St. Mary’s Street at the intersection with Trunk Highway (T.H.) 4 and extend to intersection with 3rd Avenue NE. From there it will turn north and continue on 3rd Avenue NE and end at Windsor Road.
Work on this portion of the project will include the complete replacement of all pedestrian ramps that do not conform to the current ADA standards. Select curb & gutter spots in disrepair will be removed and replaced. Utilities will be replaced in the intersection of St. Mary’s Street and 1st Avenue along with minor utility work in select areas along St. Mary’s Street. The entire street surface along this route will be milled down and then overlayed with new bituminous pavement.
The streets on this portion of the project will be open to traffic for most of the duration of the work with the exception being during the spot utility work in and near the intersection of St. Mary’s Street and 1st Avenue and during the paving operations.

C.S.A.H. 35 – 1st Avenue State Aid Project No. 008-635-015

The work on C.S.A.H. 35 will begin at Walnut Street and end at St. Mary’s Street. The intersection of 1st Avenue and Trunk Highway (T.H.) 14 is not included with this work. Work will extend up to both sides of T.H. 14 but not through the intersection, meaning T.H. 14 will remain open for the duration of the project.

This portion of the project is a complete reconstruct. All the utilities (sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and watermains) will be reconstructed. Sanitary sewer and water services will be reconstructed from the mains to the Right of Way. The entire street surface and subbase, curb & gutter, sidewalks, and driveways will be replaced within the County’s Right of Way.
Along with the street and utility work, the railroad crossings will be improved. The northern spur of the railroad will be removed. The two other spurs will be replaced with all new concrete planking. The main rail (the southern track) will be left in place.

This work will cause 1st Avenue to be closed for much the duration of this project. However, a minimum of one east-west crossing on 1st Avenue north of the railroad tracks will be open to traffic at all times.

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update – 11/18/21

1^st Avenue is open! Work on the street is complete for the year. Next year, crews will come back to put the final layer of pavement on. This top layer is left until the following construction season to give the ground a freeze-thaw cycle to settle out. The final layer will then fill in any spots that settled out. Striping will be left off until next year once the final layer of pavement is complete.

The railroad crossing is planned to be completed within the next year to year and a half. Originally, the crossing was planned to be completed this year but due to schedule changes by the railroad, the work will now have to be completed in an 18-month time frame. The two north spurs will be replaced with all new concrete planking and the pavement between the rails will also be replaced. Sidewalk will be extended across the tracks on both sides.

Past Weekly Updates

Weekly Update – 10/28/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Elm Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. The St. Mary’s Street, Willow Street, and Elm Street intersections are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. While many of these streets are paved, there is still concrete work to finish up along with black dirt and restoration. For this reason, general traffic is asked to stay off the streets that are closed with signs. Temporary access is being provided as required to buildings without side or back doors in the downtown area. Curb and gutter is complete on the project. The base layer of pavement is complete from St. Mary’s Street to HWY 14. The rain has slowed down some of the concrete work, however, crews are expected back on Tuesday (Nov. 2^nd) to continue with flat work in the downtown area north of Highway 14. Focus will be placed in the downtown area for concrete work in order to reestablish access to the businesses. Also planned for next Tuesday is the paving on the last block between Walnut Street and Highway 14. Concrete work on this block would follow that following week. Miscellaneous patching in alleys and other areas throughout the project will happen next week around this time too.

Weekly Update – 10/21/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Elm Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. Temporary access is being provided as required to buildings without side or back doors in the downtown area. The base layer of pavement and nearly all concrete work is done from St. Mary’s Street to Elm Street. Curb and gutter is complete from St. Mary’s Street down to Highway 14. Crews are working on getting the base layer of pavement done from Elm to the railroad tracks done today while the block between the railroad and Highway 14 is being prepped for pavement also. South of Highway 14, crews are working on getting the street ready for gravel. Once the pavement is complete in an area, crews will come back and finish the sidewalks and driveways. In areas where all the sidewalk is complete, topsoil placement and sodding prep has begun. Concrete work is expected continue with curb and gutter on the last block south of Highway 14 next week along with sidewalks and driveways from Elm Street to Highway 14. The block between the railroad tracks and Highway 14 is also planned to be paved next week. If the weather allows, all paving and concrete work is expected to be finished within the first week or two of November.

Weekly Update – 10/14/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. Sidewalk removals will begin early next week in downtown areas. Temporary access will be provided as required to buildings without side or back doors. All of the main underground utility work is complete for the project. The last thing to go in will be the 6” drain tile in the 2 downtown blocks from Walnut Street to Oak Street. This will be installed right before the street is graveled and will be located directly behind the new curb. 1^st Avenue is now paved from St. Mary’s Street to just north of Elm Street. Work on sidewalks and driveways in this section is underway and should be complete on or before Monday. 1^st Avenue is now graveled and has new curb and gutter form Elm to the railroad tracks. Starting next week, this area will be tolerance for paving. Paving from Elm to the railroad tracks may happen as soon as next Friday. Topsoil and sodding work may begin the week of October 25^th. Crews expect to have the block from the railroad tracks to Highway 14 all graveled and ready for concrete sometime next week. After that block is done, the crews will jump to the south side of Highway 14. That is when the remaining sidewalk on the block south of Highway 14 will be removed as crews grade road and prepare for gravel.

Weekly Update – 10/8/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. Sidewalk removals will begin early next week in downtown areas. Temporary access will be provided as required to buildings without side or back doors. On 1^st Avenue, all of the main underground utility work is complete. The few items left include water services hook ups from Highway 14 to Walnut Street and 6” drain tile in the 2 downtown blocks from Walnut Street to Oak Street. 1^st Avenue is now graveled from St. Mary’s Street to the railroad tracks. Crews have begun tolerancing the gravel for paving from St. Mary’s Street to Elm Street. This paving is expected to happen on Tuesday. Crews will also be jumping to south of the railroad tracks to begin prepping those areas for gravel. Later next week, crews will come back to complete the next round of concrete work. This will mainly include sidewalks and driveways in the areas where the curb and gutter is already in.

Weekly Update – 9/30/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. In the downtown areas, sidewalk will be temporarily left in place where possible so that businesses can still get foot traffic to their buildings off 1^st Avenue. On 1^st Avenue, all of the underground utility work is complete from St. Mary’s Street to the railroad tracks. Only water services are left from the railroad tracks to Highway 14. Crews have been working this week on sewer and water mains from Highway 14 to Walnut Street, which is the last block of the project. Underground utility work is expected to finish within the next two weeks. This week, a crew began working on grading and graveling on 1^st Avenue from Willow Street to Elm Street. They will continue to work their way south towards the railroad tracks. The street will then be ready for curb and gutter from St. Mary’s Street to the railroad tracks. The curb and gutter could be installed as soon as the middle of next week for this area. Once underground utilities are complete south of the railroad tracks, crews will be able to move in there to prepare the streets for gravel also.

Weekly Update – 9/23/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. In the downtown areas, sidewalk will be temporarily left in place where possible so that businesses can still get foot traffic to their buildings off 1^st Avenue. On 1^st Avenue, all of the utility mains are complete from St. Mary’s Street to HWY 14. The new services should be hooked up on everything north of the railroad tracks first thing next week. On Monday, crews will begin to work on utilities south of HWY 14. Utilities are expected to be complete within the first week or two of October. Starting towards the middle of next week, crews will move in to start preparing the streets that are ready for gravel. This should be everything north of the railroad up to Willow. Willow to St. Mary’s is already graveled. Once this is all graveled, expect concrete to follow the week after, potentially the first week of October.

Weekly Update – 9/16/21 Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street and Willow Street are open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times. In the downtown areas, sidewalk will be temporarily left in place where possible so that businesses can still get foot traffic to their buildings off 1^st Avenue. On 1^st Avenue, surface removals are complete now from the railroad tracks to Walnut Street. Utilities are complete from St. Mary’s Street to Elm Street and should be complete down to the railroad tracks near the end of next week. The watermain and casing pipe under the railroad is in and work is continuing on utilities south of the railroad tracks. Utility work will begin on the southside of Highway 14 as soon as the end of next week. The gravel surface is complete on 1^st Avenue from St. Mary’s Street to Willow Street. As utilities are completed, the rest of the streets will be restored to a gravel surface. Concrete work will tentatively begin around the start of October. By then, all streets north of the railroad tracks will be graveled and should be ready for concrete.

Weekly Update – 9/9/21 Beginning on Sunday evening (9/12/2021), 1^st Avenue will close in the downtown area from Walnut Street to Highway 14 and Highway 14 to the north. This road will not be open to traffic. Highway 14 will remain open at all times. Sidewalk will be temporarily left in place where possible so that businesses can still get foot traffic to their buildings off 1^st Avenue. On 1^st Avenue North, utility work has been progressing on schedule. Sanitary sewer and water mains are complete all the way from St. Mary’s Street to Rice Street. Services will be finished between Elm Street and Willow Street early next week and then will start from Elm Street to Rice Street after. Also starting next week will be the work underneath the railroad tracks. A new watermain and casing pipe will be augured underneath the tracks All utility work on 1^st Avenue from St. Mary’s Street to Willow Street is complete. Crews have begun to put the street back together and are preparing to return it to gravel. Once more blocks are ready, crews will come in to start the concrete work. Road Closures: 1^st Avenue will be closed from Highway 14 to Willow Street, and from Highway 14 to Walnut Street. The railroad crossing will be closed for the rest of the project. St. Mary’s Street is open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times.

Weekly Update – 9/2/21 St. Mary’s Street is open to traffic. The only items left include sodding and reinstalling lighting. On 1^st Avenue North, utility work has been moving along. Sanitary sewer and water mains are nearly complete all the way from St. Mary’s Street to Elm Street. By next week, mains will be complete all the way to Rice Street. Crews are currently installing sewer and water services right after the mains. With nearly all utilities complete north of Willow Street, crews will begin the process of getting 1^st Avenue back to gravel from Willow Street to St. Mary’s Street starting next week. In the downtown area, removals will begin around either the end of next week or Sept. 13^th from north of Highway 14 up to the railroad tracks. New watermain will be bored under the tracks around Sept. 15^th. The downtown area south of Highway 14 will be the last area to be worked on. Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from Oak Street to Willow Street, and Willow Street to St. Mary’s Street. The railroad crossing on 1^st Avenue will be closed for the rest of the project. 1^st Avenue will close from Highway 14 to the railroad tracks as soon as the end of next week. St. Mary’s Street is open, and Highway 14 will remain open at all times.

Weekly Update – 8/26/21 All major work on St. Mary’s Street is complete! Final restoration (black dirt and sodding) is the most significant item left. Much of the black dirt is in and sodding should follow as soon as next week. On 1^st Avenue North, utility work is in progress. There are about 1.5 blocks of sanitary sewer to finish between St. Mary’s Street and Rice Street. Services are nearly complete between Willow Street and St. Mary’s Street. Services south of Willow Street will go in after the rest of the mains are complete. Crews may start setting up temporary water main downtown starting next week. Last week, M.R. Paving & Excavating removed the northern most spur of the railroad track. This spur has been permanently eliminated and will not be replaced. The rest of the work near the railroad tracks will begin on September 2^nd. Road Closures: 1^st Avenue is closed from north of Pine Street to Willow Street, and Willow Street to St. Mary’s Street. Pine Street is open just north of the railroad tracks for traffic going East of 1^st Avenue. St. Mary’s Street is now open. Highway 14 will remain open at all times.

Weekly Update – 8/19/21

Paving is nearly complete on St. Mary’s Street and should be wrapping up tomorrow (8-20-21). After the paving is complete, crews will begin striping and reinstalling traffic signs on Monday. The road will be fully open to traffic by Tuesday, the first day of school. Final restoration, which includes topsoil, landscaping, and sodding will follow shortly after. However, sodding may be temporarily held off until there are more favorable growing conditions. On 1st Avenue North, utility work is in progress. The water main is complete from St. Mary’s Street to Rice Street. There are about 1.5 blocks of sanitary sewer to finish between St. Mary’s Street and Rice Street. Crews have been working to finish installing new services to the houses between Willow Street and St. Mary’s Street. Services south of Willow Street will go in after the rest of the mains are complete. The work near the railroad tracks will begin early September. Crews may start work in the downtown areas near this point also. Road Closures: 1st Avenue is closed from north of Pine Street to Willow Street, and Willow Street through the St. Mary’s Street intersection. Currently, Willow Street is the only crossing open on 1st Avenue. However, Pine Street is also open just north of the railroad tracks for traffic going East of 1st Avenue. St. Mary’s Street is closed but will officially open before Tuesday morning. Highway 14 will remain open at all times.

Weekly Update – 8/12/21

Concrete is going in this week on St. Mary's Street. All concrete work in this area is expected to be complete by the end of the week. All spot utility repairs on St. Mary’s Street have been completed so M.R. Paving and Excavating has been working along side the concrete crews to patch in the blacktop. Next week, crews will begin milling off the old pavement on St. Mary’s Street and 3rd Avenue NE. They plan to have the two streets repaved on Thursday and Friday and back open to traffic by the end of next week. On 1st Avenue North, utility work is in progress. Sanitary sewer and watermains are complete from Willow up to St. Mary’s Street. Crews are continuing to install utility mains working their way north and south towards Elm Street but will jump back to the north to complete the sewer and water service hook ups starting next week. Road Closures: 1st Avenue is closed from north of Pine Street to Willow Street, and Willow Street through the St. Mary’s Street intersection. Currently, Willow Street is the only crossing open on 1st Avenue. However, Pine Street is also open just north of the railroad tracks for traffic going East of 1st Avenue. St. Mary’s Street is closed, but will open near the end of next week.

Weekly Update – 8/3/21

Utility work is in progress on 1st Avenue North. Holtmeier Construction has two crews in town working on utilities. One crew is working on sanitary sewer heading north towards the school while the other crew is a block behind working on watermain. After these utility segments are done, one of the crews will switch and work on the spot utility repairs on St. Mary’s Street. The other crew may begin setting up temporary water heading south of Willow Street. M.R. Paving & Excavating has started concrete removals on St. Mary’s Street. Later next week, crews should be beginning to pour concrete back in once all the utility work finishes up. The goal is to have all substantial work complete prior to the start of school. Road Closures: 1st Avenue is closed from north of Pine Street to Elm Street, and Elm Street through the St. Mary’s Street intersection. Currently, Elm Street is the only crossing open on 1st Avenue. However, Pine Street is also open just north of the railroad tracks for traffic going East of 1st Avenue.

Weekly Update - 7/22/21

Work has started on 1st Avenue North. At the beginning of the week, Holtmeier Construction, who is the subcontractor for the underground utilities, began to set up temporary water for residents on 1st Avenue north of Elm Street. Wednesday, 1st Avenue was closed to traffic and crews began milling up the existing pavement. Today (7/22/21) M.R. Paving & Excavating began the removal of curb and gutter and sidewalks. Tomorrow and into next week, Holtmeier will be on site to begin hooking residents up to temporary water and then begin utility work on the north end of 1st Avenue. Their priority is to get all the utilities done at the intersection of 1st Avenue and St. Mary’s Street first so that the road can be opened back up to traffic before school starts. Road Closures: 1st Avenue is closed from north of Pine Street to Elm Street, and Elm Street through the St. Mary’s Street intersection. Currently, Elm Street is the only crossing open on 1st Avenue. However, Pine Street is also open just north of the railroad tracks for traffic going East of 1st Avenue.

Weekly Update - 7/14/21

On July 1st, 2021, Brown County held the preconstruction meeting for the CSAH 34 & CSAH 35 Improvements project. Work was originally planned to have started by this time; however, the availability of certain materials has created some delay and uncertainty with the expected start date. At this time, M.R. Paving & Excavating anticipates starting the week of the July 19th with some set up work and likely removals towards the middle of the week. Fliers will be delivered providing up to date information to the adjacent residents prior to the work. The construction will be split into 3 phases as described below. Please note that these phases are a preliminary construction plan and may change. Phase 1: The first part of the project will include the work on St. Mary’s Street, 3rd Avenue NE, and the north section of 1st Avenue near the intersection at St. Mary’s Street. The goal is to complete all the spot utility & concrete repairs along with the surface mill and overlay prior to the start of school. Phase 2: As the work on the north end of the project wraps up, crews will shift their focus to 1st Avenue. This phase will extend from approximately the railroad tracks up to where the crews left off south of the intersection with St. Mary’s Street. This phase will take the longest. All the utilities, sidewalks, driveways and street surface / subbase will be completely reconstructed. Phase 3: The final phase will be the downtown area of 1st Avenue. This will include the block from Walnut Street to Highway 14, and from Highway 14 to the railroad tracks. Note that there will be work next to, but not through, the intersection with Highway 14. Highway 14 will remain open to traffic at all times. All the utilities, sidewalks, driveways and street surface / subbase will be completely reconstructed.