Fargo, North Dakota – Segment One of the 32nd Avenue S. reconstruction project’s construction crews started in April, and all lanes of traffic opened last Friday, seven weeks ahead of schedule.
Civil engineer Eric Hodgson from the City of Fargo said they had expected the project to take until October 20 but that it was completed earlier than expected thanks to a number of circumstances.
“Good weather always helps out the construction season,” Hodgson said. “Initially, this project was going to be built under traffic and we retooled the plan that allowed them to close the segments of the project down, and that also really helped them build it faster.”
According to Hodgson, the segment’s costs were as anticipated. An estimated $20 million will be spent on the entire project, which spans a mile and a half from University Drive to 32nd Street.
“We did end up rebidding this project because when we initially bid it out, costs came in high,” Hodgson said. “A lot of that was just because of the inflation post-COVID that we had been seeing that pretty much everyone’s been dealing with, but we retooled the plans. And then, with that new bid, when we rebid it, costs came in exactly where we would anticipate them to come in with that new bid which was very close to what that bid was.”
Hodgson stated that the project’s contractor, Dakota Underground, will receive incentive monies worth over $200,000 because they completed Segment One earlier than expected.
The quantity of companies near the 25th Street crossroads raised some questions before to the project’s start. Overall, according to Hodgson, the impact on individuals and businesses was minimal.
The project’s next phase, between 22nd and 15th Streets, will start the following year.
