Progress

made on

Highway 4

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Weather permitting, the Highway 4 south project is moving along well.

Sand subgrade and Class 5 gravel base were added to the highway last week. Concrete paving began Friday at the south edge of town, from Ellsworth Street north towards U.S. Highway 14.

Minnesota Department of Transportation Project Manager Harry Carlson of Mankato said he was disconnected from the Sleepy Eye project during the state worker strike but is back on it now.

The recently-settled state employee strike did not slow the Highway 4 project in Sleepy Eye, Carlson said.

Progress was slow last Friday due to plant and paver difficulties. More paving was planned for last Saturday but the long, slow rain hampered work.

More rain Monday afternoon stymied paving again, but Carlson remained optimistic about getting concrete road work done and curb and gutter installed all the way to U.S. Highway 14 by the end of the month, with favorable weather.

"October is a very, very unpredictable month to do road work," Carlson said. "We have adequate equipment and forces to do the work. It would be tremendous news for everybody, including me if it is done soon."

Completion of the concrete lying north of Highway 14 and bituminous road surfacing south of the city limits are the major portions of work remaining to be done. After that, curb and gutter work should be done quickly, Carlson said.

"The bituminous work is a lot more predictable. Once one coat is down, we'll be in good shape. It isn't as weather-dependent as concrete," Carlson said. "After that, it's hand-pours at intersections, miscellaneous details and tidying and cleaning up."

Carlson hopes for dry weather to wrap up the job by the early November deadline.

"It's those long, dragged-out rains like last Saturday that cause havoc," Carlson said. "Pouring concrete at 48 to 50 degrees is not the end of the world. Concrete will do a good job at those temperatures, but the warmer the better."