Main Street Project begins
By Jerry W. Kram
It’s going to be a long summer and fall, especially for the businesses of New Town. The long delayed Main Street Project began in earnest on Monday and New Town will be closed to through traffic for much of the summer.
Still, New Town will still be open for business this summer, said Roger Watson, project superintendent for Marschuetz Construction, the company doing the Main Street Project. He said the company plans to work closely with Main Street businesses to keep their doors open during construction and make sure their customers have access.
Still, Watson said the scope of the project made it impossible to proceed without closing Highway 23. The first phase of the project from the corner of 1804 to Third Street (where United Prairie sits) not only will replace the street, sidewalks and lighting but the sewer and water mains as well. Watson said this is a major undertaking and will be the biggest time consuming part of the project.
"I don’t want anyone to judge us on how long we take for the first phase," Watson said. "Once we have all the underground work finished, things will start to move much faster."
