A busy road construction season continues in Grantsville City, with repairs, new sidewalks and pedestrian enhancements complete or scheduled for completion this fall.
Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall gave the long list of projects the city is currently undertaking, or is scheduled to complete in the coming months. They include widening Durfee Street and repairing portions of both ends of Burmester Road. Road crews are also working on repairs to sections of Bowery, Cooley and Clark streets, as well as the south end of the Old Lincoln Highway.
A series of repairs were made to the roadway within the Grantsville Cemetery, Marshall said. Quirk Street is also being repaired between Cherry Street and Quirk Street.
Marshall said the city has spent about $580,000 on road repairs and the final cost will likely reach $600,000 by the end of the construction season.
Road construction caused some delays for parents dropping off students on the first day of school last week, due to projects on Apple and Cherry streets, as well as the intersection of Hale and Durfee streets, Marshall acknowledged.
The projects were slated for completion prior to the school year, but contractors for the project fell behind due to delays on other projects, he said.
The school district was informed of the delay on the projects near the elementary, middle and high schools, Marshall said. Work at the schools is nearly complete and the delay was not something wanted or intended, he said.
“We apologize for the inconvenience we caused anyone,” Marshall said.
In addition to repairs to roadways, Grantsville City will add new sections of sidewalk and will install two traffic-controlled crosswalks across Main Street with completion of all projects expected in October.
The new sidewalks will be added on South Center Street between Cherry and Durfee streets, on Durfee Street between Center and Park streets and along Quirk Street to provide a safe route to school for students and keep pedestrian traffic out of the roadway, according to Marshall.
The crosswalk on Main Street across from Grantsville Elementary School will be enhanced with new, pedestrian-activated lights, Marshall said. Located between Park and Center streets, there will be overhead lights that turn red when pedestrians are present, prompting traffic to stop.
Marshall said the crossing guard at the crosswalk will remain at the intersection during the same hours in addition to the new pedestrian crossing signal.
The other enhanced crosswalk will be located at the intersection of Hale and Main streets, which will have yellow flashing lights to indicate pedestrians plan to cross the street. Marshall said the lights work better to ensure pedestrian safety than orange crossing flags.