MANDAN, ND (KFYR) – Mandan students and teachers are preparing for the first day of school next week. The city is trying to make sure all roads are ready.
Due to the construction work next to the middle and high schools, there will be diversions.
City engineer Jarek Wigness said both projects would be completed by the start of school Wednesday.
“A road construction project that will urbanize the section. I believe there are three new driveways to the new high school grounds, including an eight-foot-wide concrete walkway right next to the new high school grounds that are being built,” said Jarek Wigness, a city engineer.
However, he said there had been some obstacles.
“There were complications with the bidding process. Before that, I believe there was a larger project that the community protested against. In order to preserve it, I believe $1.5 million in federal funds were allocated for that project. The city kept putting pressure on it to get the project done,” Wigness said.
He said that while relocating a key gas pipeline would add additional complications, the project was critical to the city.
“But when the school district selected this site for the new high school, they simply gave it a higher priority,” Wigness said.
The other project adjacent to the middle school is a privately funded stormwater connection project by the nonprofit organization Dakota Alpha.
Wigness said the city had long worked with the company to keep the road partially open, but that was not feasible.
He said the city commission had approved a one-week street closure.
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