The City of Pierre will partner with contractors this year for an ambitious construction season.
At Tuesday night’s (Feb. 9) meeting, the Commission approved the request to bid the street paving project and the curb and gutter project. Together these two projects will make improvement to more than 50 blocks of city street.
“We’ll rebuild some of those streets complete with underground utilities; others will get a new surface,” said Nick Waters, Staff Engineer.
New water main is planned for more than a dozen of those blocks as well.
“Water main work usually requires the team to be in close contact in trenches,” said Waters. “Because of COVID, we paused much of last year’s water projects; we’re catching up this year.”
Bids for both the paving and curb and gutter contracts are expected back the end of the month.
“If the bids come back favorably and the weather cooperates, we should be able to get all 38 blocks of asphalt work and an additional 20 blocks of curb and gutter work buttoned up by the end of the 2021 construction season,” said Brad Palmer, City Utilities Director.
In addition to the paving project and curb and gutter project lists outlined at tonight’s commission meeting, the City plans to rebuild six blocks of Highland Avenue and a large stretch of Airport Road.
“An increased appropriation from the Commission combined with our State Transportation Improvement Plan allotment is allowing us to tackle more street projects than the average year,” said Palmer. “There will be a lot of activity this construction season which ultimately leads to a lot of positive change in our community.”
The City maintains 80 miles of streets. Each year, City staff assess the streets, in addition to utilities, sidewalks and curbs to prioritize street maintenance and reconstruction projects.
Image credit City of Pierre.
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