A Relatively Mild Road Construction Season for the City In 2025

It will be another busy road construction season in Sauk Rapids but the duration of disruption in most areas should be shorter than in recent years. The City is mainly focusing on street & trail resurfacing this season: approximately 5 miles of streets and 1.4 miles of trails.

In 2025 there will be one project wrapping up and three starting new:

• The 2024 Second Avenue South Improvements project is planned to be completed in June with final lift bituminous paving and final pavement marking work on 2^nd Avenue South from 6^th to 10^th Street South, and final paving of the adjacent side streets. Prior to final paving, there will be some private utility (natural gas) system upgrade work consisting of tunneling under Benton Drive that will temporarily close lanes on 2^nd Avenue South and hard close the 2^nd Avenue South railroad crossing in May/June for up to a month. This private utility work could delay City project completion.    
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  The largest new road project is the 2025 Overlay Improvements consisting of partial depth milling of the existing street surface followed by new bituminous paving in the Church Hill Heights, Oak Crest, Garden Brook, Stone Ridge, and Hillside Meadows neighborhoods east of Highway 10. In these same neighborhoods the existing bituminous trails will be resurfaced, pedestrian curb ramps will be upgraded, and targeted repairs to sidewalk and curb panels will be made. The 2025 Overlay project also includes full depth removal/reclamation (pulverizing) of the existing street surface followed by new bituminous paving on 15^th Street NE west of Industrial Boulevard, 13^th Street So west of Broadway Avenue So, Riverview Court, and the Benton Drive frontage road across from the 10^th Street North railroad crossing. The 2025 Overlay Improvements project is anticipated to begin this summer, be constructed in stages, and be complete by this fall.

• The other new larger road project is the 2025 Highview Area Street & Utility Improvements consisting of reclamation (pulverizing) of the existing street surface and new bituminous paving on West Highview Drive north of Benton Oaks Drive, North Highview Drive, High Drive, High Court, and the north end of Oak Drive. A water main loop installation is also planned on North Highview Drive between Oak and East Highview Drive, as well as some targeted intersection curb and valley gutter work. Construction of this project is being contracted and coordinated with the 2025 Overlay Improvements.  Specific construction scheduling for each will be dependent on the staging and phasing of the other project. The 2025 Highview Area Street & Utility Improvements project is anticipated to begin this summer and be complete by this fall.
• A final construction project occurring this summer that will indirectly involve road work in the form of isolated street patching is the 2025 Lead Water Service Line Replacement project that focuses on replacing approximately 56 each old water services from the main line pipe in the street to the meter in people’s basements. The project area is spread out within the older core part of the City and will be a moving operation. It will look and function more like a City maintenance project. Construction is anticipated to begin by mid-summer and be completed this fall.

As always, we request your patience this construction season. All residents are asked to pay careful attention to construction warning signs and drive cautiously in the vicinity of the project areas. 

Residents and property owners adjacent to the proposed street improvements will be receiving periodic Project Updates in the mail that will provide updated schedule and progress information, as well as contact information for project personnel.