Photo by Jenny Kirk Street construction continues to take place in the city of Canby. A $10 million road reconstruction project has left several streets torn up during an infrastructure project.

CANBY – Motorists currently traveling in some residential areas in Canby are running into a lot of detours. Plan for more detours in 2019.

A $10 million road reconstruction project has left several streets torn up during an infrastructure project.

“Right now, they’re working on residential areas,” City Administrator Rebecca Schrupp said. “Next year, it will be Trunk Highway 75, also known as St. Olaf Avenue.”

There are just one five-block strip of detour at this point, Mayor Nancy Bormann said.

“Poplar Avenue is closed,” Schrupp said. “That’s the one that is really dug up right now. The people who live on that street use the alley for access.”

The fairground road is being used as the detour, Schrupp and Bormann said. It can handle semi trucks.

The city contracted with Kuechle Underground, Inc. for the infrastructure project, Schrupp said. It is putting in new pipes for storm water, drinking water and sewer as well as new streets. As with most cities, they are doing the pipes and the streets in the same project to prevent tearing up the streets twice.

The whole project is expected to cost at least $10 million, Schrupp said.

“We received funding from PFA in the amounts of: Clean Water: Loan $4,537,774.00 WIF (Water Investment Fund) wastewater grant: $978,464.00, Drinking Water: Loan $4,121,521.00 WIF drinking water grant $2,054,098,” she said.

“I know this is a long process,” Bormann said. “This is the third process we’ve gone through to get whole city completed. The first was in the early 1900s to get the old section of town. Now we’re doing the newest portions of town and a few of streets not done previously.”

The project just got started in September, Schrupp said.

“We had to wait for some PFA (Public Facilities Authority) funding to come through,” she said. “We had to wait until the bonding bill was past, and then for contracts to be signed. They had planned on starting in April, but had to wait for all that to go through. They started preliminary stuff in August.”

The part of the project open now is expected to be completed in November, Schrupp said. The over all project is scheduled to be done in 2020.

“When it’s finished, the community should be in good shape for a good 20-30 years,” Bormann said. “Technically, streets are good for 50 years, but things happen.”

The residents seem to be taking it all in stride. Neither city official has heard much in the way of complaints, they said.

“There were assessment meetings,” Bormann said. “Most of the people were really ‘for’ the projects. They wanted the streets done. Most of the streets were 40-50 years old and breaking up. If the water main broke, the streets were tore up and patched. It was just getting time for them to be fixed.”