Photo by Deb Gau An excavator sat idle in the rain at Saratoga Street and West College Drive on Thursday.

MARSHALL — Excavation and utility work on another segment of West College Drive is getting close to finished, representatives of R and G Construction said Thursday. However, the rain over the past few days has made progress difficult.

“It’s been challenging this week,” Scott Mathiowetz said, during a weekly construction update with Marshall businesspeople.

At Thursday’s meeting, Mathiowetz and other representatives of R and G went over some of the work being done in Stage 2 of the ongoing reconstruction of Minnesota Highway 19 (College Drive) in Marshall. R and G representatives weren’t confident that construction work on West College Drive would be able to pick up again today.

Conditions would need to dry up a little bit first, Mathiowetz said. On Monday, work could continue in the area roughly between Greeley Street and the Atlantic Place restaurant, he said.

It might be a couple days before the weather dries up a bit in Marshall, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. The forecast for today is mostly sunny, but a chance of showers and thunderstorms comes back tonight.

At Thursday’s construction update, Mathiowetz said there were some underground pipes that would need to be removed before storm sewer work can be completed in the area near the intersection of College and Main Street. Meanwhile, work to install water mains and sanitary sewer lines along that stretch of roadway is complete.

Mathiowetz said the goal was to get the roadway back to sand by the Fourth of July.

“If it’s dry next week, we should be able to do it. If it starts raining again, we won’t,” he said.

R and G representatives told business owners that once the storm sewer work was done, they would try to have a gravel road surface put in between Marvin Schwan Memorial Drive and Main Street.

At Thursday’s meeting, representatives of some Main Street businesses told R and G that the heavy rain had made the access point to parking downtown “really rough.” Construction representatives said they would add more material to the entrance and smooth it out when the rain stopped.

It didn’t have to do with the Highway 19 project, but people at Thursday’s construction meeting also had questions about planned repair work at the BNSF railroad crossing on West Main Street (U.S. Highway 59). Mathiowetz said the railroad will be replacing part of the track at the crossing in July. Starting Monday, July 14, the crossing would be completely closed, likely for two to three weeks, he said.

Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said the city would issue a news release about the railroad crossing closure ahead of time.

Chances for thunderstorms continue through Saturday and Sunday in Marshall, NWS forecasts said. The early part of next week is forecast to be sunny, with daytime high temperatures in the low to mid-80s. By Wednesday night, a chance of more showers and thunderstorms returns.

According to data form the U.S. Geological Survey, the Redwood River near Marshall was at a stage of about 8.5 feet on Thursday afternoon. Water levels had been rising since Tuesday morning, USGS data said. However, while the water was rising, it was not yet at flood stage of 14 feet.

On Thursday, the National Weather Service said a flood warning would continue for the Minnesota River at Montevideo and at Morton. At noon Thursday, the river was over flood stage in Montevideo, and was expected to rise to a crest of 15.7 feet this afternoon. In Morton, the river was expected to rise to a crest of 24.5 feet on Saturday evening, the NWS said.