Photo by Deb Gau A new, smooth surface is one of the more obvious improvements to North Seventh Street in Marshall. The reconstruction of North Seventh was one of many city road projects this year.

MARSHALL — It’s been a busy summer for the Marshall street department, with a variety of road and sidewalk projects going on all around town. But while the work on a few projects is still going on, many are finished or nearing completion, said Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson.

One major city street project, the reconstruction of North Seventh Street between the Redwood River diversion channel and Lyon County Road 33, is just about finished, Olson said. A final layer of asphalt was put on the road surface Thursday, he said.

This summer’s reconstruction is the first major work done on North Seventh Street in years. A feasibility report on the project said the road was built in 1983, but in its more than 30-year lifespan, had only ever received patching.

North Seventh Street was closed to traffic during construction this summer. Olson said the road should be opening up again soon. However, he said drivers should take note that a nearby road, Fairview Street, will have limited access this weekend.

The intersection of North U.S. Highway 59 and Fairview Street will be closed today and Saturday for water main construction, Olson said. There will be signs posted for the road closure, and access to Fairview Street will be from North Seventh Street, he said.

There were a number of other street projects around Marshall over the summer, which are mostly finished. Olson said resurfacing projects have been completed on several city streets, including two sections of Kathryn Avenue, Bladholm Street, South 11th Street, North 11th Street, two sections of Fairview Street, Horizon Drive, Mason Street and South 2nd Street.

The paving of the parking lot at Independence Park is also “essentially complete,” Olson said, except for some patching work that needed to be done.

Olson said there are some sidewalk projects in Marshall that are still under construction. He said the city is still working on new sidewalks by the tennis courts at Legion Field Park, and as well as new sidewalks at Freedom Park.

The wet and cool weather during parts of the summer did cause delays for city road projects, Olson said.

“We wanted to get most projects completed before school started, but we weren’t able to,” Olson said. While it made for an inconvenient situation for school bus routes, Olson said, most of this summer’s street projects are now finished or nearing completion.