Road upgrades 'falling into place'

• PHOTO: road construction

About 1.4 miles of County Road 1/Bench Street near S.B. Foot Tanning Co. are being improved. Jen Cullen photo

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The wider, more driver-friendly County Road 1 in Red Wing is still on schedule to make its public debut in just over a month, Goodhue County Public Works officials said this week.

Work began in June and is expected to wrap up at the end of September. The road should be reopened to traffic shortly thereafter.

"Everything seems to be falling into place," said Greg Isakson, Goodhue County Public Works director.

The multi-million dollar project — $3 million total, including more than $1 million in federal stimulus dollars — focuses on 1.4 miles of County Road 1/Bench Street from 285th Street to Featherstone Road. It will complete a rebuilding of the road from Red Wing to White Rock.

County public works officials said the project is complex. It includes widening the roadway, replacing existing centerline structures, adding curbs and gutters, new public and private utilities and new road surfacing.

The work will bring the road up to current state and federal requirements.

"It's runs the gamut of components and it's all crammed into 1 1/2 miles, in town, with a tannery in the middle of it," Isakson said. "This is not your typical job."

The road will be widened to three lanes near S.B. Foot Tanning Co., allowing for safe turning into the tannery and onto Pioneer Road.

Tannery parking lots will also be moved onto the same side of the street so employees no longer need to walk across the busy stretch of road.

John Schueller, the county's highway construction deputy director, said construction crews should have underground work completed right after Labor Day.

Concrete paving will begin after that.

Tags: local news, county road 1 bench street, goodhue county public works, foot tannery, improved highway, news