Council applies for grant for 2020 street project
The New Prague City Council authorized City Engineer Chris Cavett of Short Elliott Hendrickson, (S.E.H.) Inc., to submit a grant application to help with the Main Street improvement project in 2020.
Cavett talked to the council about the Surface Transportation Program (STP) grant, which is for small urban city streets, at its Monday, Dec. 21, meeting. The grant is available through the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) Area Transportation Partnership. MnDOT created the partnership to emphasize greater public involvement in preparation of transportation plans and programs.
Cavett detailed how city staff has been talking with MnDOT about improvements to Main Street, which is also Highways 19 and 21. On June 15 of this year the council approved a resolution that the city would take the lead in the project. The main reason is that the majority of the city’s utilities under the street date back to 1921 and city staff is concerned about the condition of those utilities. The project would begin just east of the intersection with Fourth Avenue (Highway 21) to Seventh Avenue SE. The segment would be approximately 4,950 feet and pass through the city’s central business district and by Memorial Park and mixed residential areas.
On November 25, staff from the city, S.E.H. and MnDOT District 7, which is the area New Prague belongs to, met to discuss roles and responsibilities for the project. MnDOT District 7 is currently preparing a memorandum of understanding for the council to review likely by early January.
Cavett said MnDOT anticipates....
To see mre on this story pick up the December 31, 2015 print edition of The New Prague Times.
