Highway 23 closed
Access to businesses will continue
By Jerry W. Kram
Access to businesses on the west end of Main Street in New Town will continue although the street will be closed to all but local traffic as of Thursday, May 14. No Through Traffic signs will be posted on the highway.
Roger Watson, project superintendent for Marschuetz Construction, said that traffic was allowed while the company worked on the sanitary sewer in the middle of Main Street, but now the company is going to start replacing the connections to both sides of the street. That will require tearing up the pavement on both sides of the street so there will be no traffic through the area starting Thursday.
Anyone headed west on North Dakota Highway 23 will have to go around to North Dakota Highway 1804 and then south to reconnect with Highway 23. The primary detour for the project will by the Highway 23 Bypass.
Watson said he and Marchuetz Public Relations representative Dawn Wilber will stay in close contact with businesses along Main Street to work out any problems. The biggest current problem has been random water outages because of pipes broken during the construction process. Watson said many of the lateral pipes to businesses are black plastic and can’t be located with metal detectors or easily spotted by workers. He added that the connections don’t seem to be laid out in any consistent pattern.
Watson commended the city of New Town’s Public Works workers for quickly repairing any breaks. He added that after the repairs there would be sediment in the business’ water, and that owners should run the water until it is clear again.
