Public gets look at Main Street project plans

New Prague’s Main Street will see a major transformation during the summer of 2020, when work on the Highway 19 reconstruction project takes place.

Months of planning and discussions have already taken place, and representatives of the city and its engineering firm were on hand Thursday, April 26, at the New Prague City Hall for a public presentation on the project.

Chris Cavett of SEH Engineering narrated a power point presentation to update residents, including many property owners, on plans for the project.

The mile-long corridor stretches from Highway 21 on the west side to Seventh Ave. SE on the east side of Highway 19. In addition, there will be a short section of Highway 19 west of Highway 21 that will have a resurface overlay.

The project will be a total reconstruction of the highway, including removal of concrete that was put in place in the 1930s and replacement of water and sewer utilities that are approaching 100 years old.

Cavett said that even though Highway 19 is a state highway, this is a cityled project, meaning the city will have more input into the scope and design of the project. It also moves up the timeline. He said if it would have been left to the state it would have been at least five more years before the project would take place.

In looking at the history of Main Street, Cavett said the current sanitary sewer system was installed in 1921, and the water system predates the sanitary sewer, but there are no records stating when the water system was put in place. Concrete was placed in the 1930s, and at various times from 1940 to 1990, paving took place along the street. The most recent project was the 1990 Streetscape project. At that time, the entire length of Main Street was resurfaced, bumpouts were put in place at various corners and new sidewalks were installed that included paver blocks.

“This project will basically redo everything,” Cavett said. “Street, sanitary, water, storm sewer, sidewalks and lighting. It will go building to building.

Currenlty the street measures....

To see more on this story pick up the May 3, 2018 print edition of The New Prague Times.