Main Street repaving project moving forward
By Lee Coleman
The repaving of Main Street in Hazen from Fourth Avenue SE to Highway 200 heading west got a little closer to fruition Monday night as the Hazen City Commission accepted the engineering reports and cost estimates from KLJ Engineering of Bismarck.
The initial estimate for just the Main Street portion with chip sealing after three years came in at about $2.7 million. If the City decides to include work on the mine road and parts of Ninth Street with chip sealing, the costs could push $3.1 million.
“I wish we could have started this project earlier so we were already past this stage,” said Mayor Mark Nygard. “For whatever reason, it didn’t get off to a good start.
“I’m encouraged about it because it is overdue and needs to get done.”
Contractor bids for the project will be opened on Apr. 3 and the winning bid will be awarded on Apr. 7. KLJ suggested the project could be finished in about one month from the start.
During the project, one lane of traffic down Main Street will be open at all times as the contractors will only work on one side at a time.
“I have heard from many of the Main Street merchants that agree something has to be done on Main Street because of its condition,” Nygard said. “In fact, there are more areas we could address but we are trying to keep the scope reasonable at this time.
“Who knows, we may have to do more later on.”
