By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
While it may be cold now, winter will soon be over and with it a new season in Minnesota, road construction. In the past few weeks, the Northfield City Council has approved the final plans and steps for road construction projects for this summer. The two main types of projects are mill and overlays and pavement reclamation. Here’s the city Engineering Director, Sean Simonson, in December at the city’s transportation town hall meeting:
“We get questions…’You guys just reconstructed this street, you know, 15 years ago. Why are you doing it again?’ Well, when the payment gets distressed to a point, if it gets too far, we can’t do a mill and overlay. And if we get that road in a sweet spot where it’s salvageable by spending, you know 50% of the dollar on that. For just grinding off 2 inches and putting 2 inches of pavement down and prolonging that surface for another 10-15. Years. That’s the process we would like to handle. Once a road gets too far where a mill and overlay are just not feasible because you don’t want to throw, good money after a bad project because you’re not going to be fixing the problem as a whole. Then it gets to that reclamation and reconstruction.” – Sean Simonson, the City of Northfield’s Engineering Director at the 12/11/2024 Transportation Townhall
A Mill and Overlay project is a less intensive road construction where approximately the top two inches of pavement are removed or “milled,” and a new layer of pavement is laid down. The impact on residents is less compared to a full reconstruction of the road, which will extend the road’s life by about 15 years. Pavement Reclamation, however, is a much larger process of removing a much deeper portion of the road and involves fixing curbs and gutters as well.
“Deterioration and bringing them back up to you know a good PCI conditions. Before you know that road might be down to 70 [PCI Conditions]. Now we can pave it and bring it back up to 100 with just a mill and overlay versus, you know when it gets down into that 60 or below. Now you’re spending double the amount of money because you’re putting double the amount of product back on the road to get it back to the same thing you could have done 10 years prior.” – Sean Simonson, the City of Northfield’s Engineering Director at the 12/11/2024 Transportation Townhall
The cities stated goal is that a road in Northfield lasts for 50 years with a mill and overlay conducted about midway through that time. At the end of 50 years a reconstruction of the road would then become necessary.
Laurel Court and Industrial Drive will both undergo reconstruction this year. The project at Laurel Court is next to the Kwik Trip and Walgreens and will include repairs to the curbs, gutter, and storm sewer repairs as well. A new bike path is also being installed in the area.
The mill and overlay projects will be conducted this summer at
- Maple Street from Jefferson Parkway to Ford Street
- Lake Drive from Jefferson Parkway to Maple Street
- Superior Drive from Erie Drive to Maple Street
Additionally, there will be two pedestrian crossing improvements, first at Maple Street and Superior Drive and further down in Superior Drive. As part of the project include ADA upgrades to pedestrian ramps. The last project will be a bike path along Maple Street.
The total cost of all the projects is estimated at $2.5 million, and the cost is covered by a mix of funding from taxes, franchise fees, and utility bills.
Construction at Industrial Drive and Laurel Court will start in May and be completed mid-summer. The mill and overlay projects will start in June and is expected to be completed mainly by the end of August.
You can find the complete plans and information on the city’s website.
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