Road paving project is finally becoming reality

HARTINGTON - A road project decades in the making is now underway in Hartington, and it means that 882 Road will be closed for the next month.

Last Monday, signs were put up closing the road as crews began working on drainage of the road that runs south of Hartington-Newcastle and Cedar Catholic.

The road will be closed from Hwy 57 to the intersection with S Lemon Ave just before the bridge.

With the road being used by buses, trucks, and school patrons, it was decided the road will be paved with concrete for better usability. 

While the county road is closed, buses will be exiting the schools to the north and not using the road that was put in between the two schools a few years ago that connects up to 882 Road.

“It will take us a while to adapt to the flow of the traffic,” said HNS Superintendent A.J. Johnson. “It is like it was several years ago when the traffic flowed to the north, but certainly it will cause a lot more traffic problems at the intersection. I think when the project is complete, more people will use the road and it will be a benefit to the situation.”

New culverts have already been installed for drainage. Crews will now grade the road over the next month before reopening it to traffic.

The bid process will then begin for companies interested in paving the nearly half-mile stretch of road.

The paving is expected to be done during the summer while school is out of session.

A general interest meeting was held at the beginning of 2018 for homeowners on the road, as well as school representatives and business owners on the road. Questions were answered for all parties, and the project got the go-ahead to proceed. 

This project has been on County Commissioner Dave McGregor’s agenda for quite some time.

The costs will come out of his District’s portion of the county budget. Half of the costs will come from the 2018-19 budget, with the other half coming from the 2019-20 budget year.

Road crews put in three culverts this week, to address the drainage of the road before grading the half-mile stretch. Usually, the grading and culverts would have been bid out with the paving, but Road Superintendent Carla Schmidt said it was something the county wanted to do themselves for this project.

“Normally the entire project is bid out together, but we could save some money grading it ourselves.”

The schools will have an option during the bid process to pave the stretch of road that connects Broadway Avenue with 882 Road as well. This would be at the expense of the schools if they decide to add that to the project going out for bid. Supt. Johnson said this is something his Board has been considering for quite some time now.