Photo by Deb Gau Excavators work on part of Highway 19 near Marlene Street, clearing the way for new sewer lines to be installed Thursday.

MARSHALL — Rainy weather over the past week slowed down work on the Highway 19 reconstruction project in Marshall. But at a construction update meeting Thursday, contractors said they still hoped to progress to the next stage of construction in a couple of weeks.

“Even with the rain, we’re trying to work around it,” said Erika Coudron, of R and G construction.

On Thursday, crews were making use of the sunshine by continuing to put in new sewer lines under part of Highway 19 near Marlene Street.

Installing new water and sewer lines under Highway 19 was one big part of the ongoing reconstruction project in Marshall. However, rain on May 15 and 16 kept crews from working.

Although construction crews were rained out for those two days, the overall project was still on schedule so far, said MnDOT project manager Diana Heston.

“We always figure weather days in there,” Heston said this week.

So far, there hadn’t been enough weather delays to push back the Highway 19 project.

Contractors said work continued on installing water mains and sanitary sewer lines, although rain also stopped construction earlier this week. Crews were able to complete water main installation on Wednesday, and were continuing to work on sanitary sewer lines Thursday.

Coudron said R and G hoped to finish excavation work on Stage 1 of the project in the next couple of weeks. After that, Stage 2 of the project would move construction down closer to Marshall’s downtown. The Stage 2 area runs from the intersection of Main Street and College Drive to the intersection of Greeley Street and College drive.

A MnDOT project update said area utility companies are currently working to relocate utility lines that would interfere with work at the Saratoga intersection.

Highway 19 is still closed from Fairgrounds Road to Main Street, MnDOT said. Through traffic is detoured onto County Road 7 and Highway 23.

Legion Field Road and Marlene Street are currently closed at Highway 19. Residents who live on Parkview Drive, Paul Street and Marlene Street must use Parkview Drive to enter and exit from Highway 19. Residents can turn off Fourth Street, use Highway 19 to cross over the Legion Field bridge, and then enter Parkview Drive.