By Paul Boblett, Editor

Cass County Road 155 (Mitchell Lake Road) alignment and paving project has been put to bed for the season, confirmed Cass County Highway Dept. Engineer David Enblom.

"The reason for the work stoppage is the recent and forecasted unusual wet weather we have been experiencing," stated Enblom. "Earth turns to mud when wet and if frozen, turns worse in the spring,"

Work began in earnest about a month ago with brushing and tree removal for the right of way.

County road 155 runs from Cass County 48 (Lake Washburn Road) south to Highway 1 in Fifty Lakes (CR 136). The halfway point is the Cass-Crow Wing borderline; north of the line is unpaved and the work was originally scheduled for 2006.

"We felt the project would take one step forward and two steps back with the wet weather," said Enblom. "From discussion with our contractor, Minnerath Construction, we felt it best to not proceed with any earthmoving work this late fall."

Enblom added, "[Minnerath] estimates 5-6 weeks to complete the earth moving or grading work. Work will start as soon as the soil can be worked, which will depend a lot on how fast of a spring we get."

Enblom anticipated the dirt work could be completed by mid July 2010 and said bids will be let in July 2010 with work hopefully completed by October 2010.

The road is being constructed within a 66-foot right of way corridor, and will be straightened out in places to achieve a 40 mph design speed.

Enblom said that the straightening required purchase of additional easements from some landowners. The finished paved blacktop surface will be 30 feet wide; 2 11-foot driving lanes with 4-foot paved shoulders.

Enblom explained that this particular project has been considered for about 12 years, and it was formally placed on the County Road Construction program about 10 years ago with completion due about 5 to 6 years ago.

"Our County Road Construction program is funded with County property tax dollars with a confined budget," stated Enblom. "Ten years ago the budget was about $700,000 and today it is about $900,000. This amount of money is enough to let us budget grading a road one year and then to pave it the next."

Enblom explained that Cass County has about 250 miles of County roads, but the only roads that are eligible for this program are those that see over 150 vehicles per day (CR 155 has 175 vehicles per day).

Enblom said that to date, approximately 50 miles of the 250 total miles are paved, and after this project there is only one other road, County Road 109 scheduled to be improved.

"About the time this project was coming due on the program, 6-7 years ago, we started seeing large inflation in construction work," said Enblom, "and the projects ahead of 155 on the schedule needed more money to complete."

"With a confined funding amount, projects had to slip on the program schedule," said Enblom. "The project is being constructed as soon as the funds have become available. The only other way that this project could have stayed on schedule would have been to bounce another ahead of it. We did not deem that fair to those other projects to do that."

Enblom said the current project bid for the work is around $500,000 and he anticipates that the paving contract will be about $500,000, but that will depend on what oil prices do this winter.