Public Works wrapping up summer road, water work

The Havre Public Works Department is starting to wrap up its summer projects, including work on the water system in Highland Park, as it gears up for autumn and the winter beyond it.

The biggest project Havre residents have seen going on recently is the replacement of water mains underneath the crossings at every block along 11th Street in Highland Park.

Jeff Jensen, deputy director of public works, said on Monday morning that crews were working to replace the existing 6-inch iron water mains with 8-inch PVC mains at the crossings underneath 11th Street.

The city is changing the mains in anticipation of a large project coming up this spring, when the Montana Department of Transportation will come to Havre to repave 11th Street and some adjoining avenues.

Public Works Director Dave Peterson said on Monday that the project, in the making for a few years now, would be resurfacing 11th Street from the S-curve on the north side of the Montana State University-Northern campus down to 16th Avenue West, just past Havre Middle School.

The project would then continue up 16th Avenue west, over the hill past the U. S. Border Patrol station and down to 2nd Street West.

The same stretch, between 11th and 2nd streets, will also be resurfaced on Boulevard Avenue.

Peterson said the project would go out to bid this fall and be all ready to go after another winter's damage to the S-curve.

The current construction underneath 11th Street should be done in the next week or so, Peterson said, after they get more pipe and are able to finish the last crossing that remains undone.