“As you know, it rained on Sunday into Monday, so we weren’t able to do much Monday or Tuesday. And then (Wednesday) we were finally able to start putting in storm sewer,” Erika Coudron of R and G said during a weekly construction update Thursday.

Coudron said construction crews started installing storm sewer lines near the intersection of West Marshall Street and East College Drive. From there, they will be heading toward the Main Street/College Drive intersection.

“Last week, were were able to finish the majority of the water main and sanitary sewer,” Coudron said.

Coudron said some of the other work being done along College Drive is grass seeding along the parts of the project completed last year. Subcontractors were able to get a lot of subsoil and grass seeding work done along boulevards and sidewalks. However, the wet soil conditions after this week’s rain slowed down the process.

Photo by Deb Gau Sections of concrete storm sewer were lined up along part of East College Drive this week.

“We could really use some nice warm weather. I talked to our seeding contractor, and it’s still pretty tacky out there, so they’re going to have to wait a little bit before they can continue seeding and doing their dirt work,” Coudron said. “With these colder temperatures, that doesn’t dry as quick as we’d like.”

Next week, construction crews plan to continue replacing storm sewers between Main Street and Marshall Street. Coudron said work to reconstruct approach panels to the bridge near West Marshall is also planned to start next week.

It’s possible that construction work could start in the Main Street/College Drive intersection before Memorial Day, Coudron said. However, it’s all dependent on weather.

Coudron and Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said drivers will need to use caution and plan for alternate routes when the Main/College intersection is closed for construction. Coudron said it’s also being discussed which crossings of East College Drive downtown will potentially be open to traffic during construction.

Currently, the intersections of College Drive and West Lyon Street, West Redwood Street and West Marshall Street are all closed to traffic while excavation work is going on.