MARSHALL — Contractors are gearing up for the second half of major construction on Highway 19 (College Drive) in Marshall.

On Thursday, representatives of R and G Construction said starting April 15, East College Drive will be closed between Main Street and the bridge near Liberty Park.

While Main Street will remain open for now, the intersections of College Drive and West Lyon Street, West Redwood Street and West Marshall Street will all be closed, said Erika Coudron of R and G Construction. Alleyway access to that portion of East College Drive will also be closed off, she said.

“There will be a full closure (of East College Drive) at the intersection right by Varsity Pub,” Coudron said. “We’ll also have a full set of barricades right by North Third Street, but North Third Street will be accessible. In between those full barricades, that’s our work zone.”

Coudron and Scott Mathiowetz of R and G met with local businesspeople and True Light school staff on Thursday, to go over plans to resume construction on Highway 19.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is in the middle of a two-year project to reconstruct Highway 19, between Fairgrounds Road and Bruce Street in Marshall. In addition to a new road surface and traffic control changes, new city sewer and water mains will be installed along the construction route. Mathiowetz said there will also be some contaminated soils in the area that will need to be removed.

“We’re anticipating that to go well. We really don’t know until we get in there,” he said.

After utility work is completed, the plan is to get crossings of College Drive at Lyon, Redwood and Marshall Streets back to gravel, Mathiowetz said. Once those crossings are re-opened, construction will move to the Main Street intersection.

“They will concentrate on the intersection with (U.S.) 59 and 19, to get that open as soon as we possibly can,” he said.

Mathiowetz and Coudron said they don’t know at this point when the Main Street/College Drive intersection will have to close.

During construction, a detour will be in place on Lyon County Road 7 and Minnesota Highway 23.

Future stages of the project will affect College Drive between Liberty Park and Bruce Street, and in the Bruce Street intersection.

More information on the Highway 19 project will be available to the public at an informational open house event at Marshall City Hall, from 4-6 p.m. on April 22. The open house will also have information on culvert replacements planted on U.S. Highway 59 north of Green valley. A detour will be in place for the culvert construction, MnDOT said.

Work on the first phase of the estimated $25.7 million project was done last year, in the area between Fairgrounds Road and the College Drive/Main Street intersection. One big change to the roadway was the construction Marshall’s first roundabout, at the three-way intersection near the National Guard Armory.