Wrapping up summer projects
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FAIRMONT-- Summer road work has continued into the fall and much progress has been made in Fairmont over the past few months.
In 2026, 11 mill and overlay projects were scheduled, including the Fairmont Aquatic Park parking lot.
"Those are done expect for touch up work and punch list items," said Public Works Director, Matthew York.
He further explained that mill and overlay extends the life of a road and is intended for roads that still have a suitable base but need a new wear surface.
"We can mill off the top couple inches of the wear surface and put new asphalt down," he said.
At its core, the Blue Earth Avenue project is also a mill and overlay project, but a much bigger one. The city began planning for it about two years and decided to make some improvements while the surface of the road was getting an upgrade.
These improvements include a reduction from four lanes to three, the addition of a two-way stop sign at the Park Street intersection and a mini roundabout at the Prairie Avenue intersection, as well as stormwater improvements.
Work officially began in late July and York said it has been going well.
"Everything from the roundabout (at the Prairie Avenue intersection) to Highway 15 will hopefully be opened on Friday (today). They finished it yesterday (Wednesday) and are doing the striping on Thursday," York said.
He is expecting that the contractor will pick up all of the road closure signs today and that the road will be reopened all of the way up until the new roundabout.
"Then there will be three side of the roundabout open," York said. "Now it's just north and south but then it will be the east side, too."
While this work happened quickly, on time and without a hitch, the other side of the project has run into some recent glitches.
"It's up in the air due to the soil contamination that was found at the southeast corner of Park Street and Blue Earth Avenue," York said.
He explained that petroleum product was found in the dirt under the pavement and the levels were high enough that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency asked for additional testing. The city's consultant, Braun, recommended that the city remove the plastic water pipe for the water main due to risk of degradation in the gaskets and pipe and replace it with an iron pipe.
Now, York said they're waiting for final confirmation from the MPCA on whether or not they'll give the city grant funds to pay for replacement of the water main.
"It's causing a delay. We had two weeks of rain that caused us to get pushed back a little bit and now we have this situation," York said. "The entirety of the project may not be completed this fall like we were hoping."
He said there was a 50/50 chance of getting the entire project completed this fall but that it looks like a portion of it will carry over for a spring 2027 completion date.
If, in a week or so, the city decides to halt the project until the following spring, York said they will close up the intersection and put some asphalt down to make the road usable for the winter months.
"We'll be able to open the road back up for winter and then in the spring we'll come in and do a closure again and do the final work that needs to be done."
The city is also waiting on new street light poles for Blue Earth Avenue. Because this is a federally-funded project, new Build America Buy American steel poles are required and York said it's a longer process to get those rather than foreign steel poles.
While Blue Earth Avenue and the other 11 mill and overlay projects were the biggest things this summer for the Public Works Department, there have been other, smaller projects and initiatives in the works.
"Changing to fall we have leaf pick-up starting Oct. 26 and then Nov. 2 and Nov. 9," York said.
He said that parks will start closing for the year on Oct. 19 and docks will begin being pulled out on Nov. 2.
"The Budd Lake, the main Gomsrud Park one, and the Amber Lake dock will be the last out," York said.
Prep work for some projects slated for next year is also happening. York said that soil sampling at the Fairmont Soccer Complex is happening in anticipation of the new pickleball court project.
"We're seeing if we can place it where we want to place it, and then that design will be brought back to the council for some decisions that they need to make about materials, surfaces and those kinds of things," York said.
The city continues to post updates about the Blue Earth Avenue project on its website at fairmont.org and on its social media page.