(Estherville)– The Estherville City Council Monday approved a funding agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation for some work to be done on Highway 9, or Central Avenue, between 3rd and 5th Streets.
City Administrator Penny Clayton told the council that area was separated out from another, more extensive one that will involve work over several years on Highway 9 through the rest of the city, with the first phase of that scheduled to start in 2028. She says the two block stretch was separated due to one factor in particular…
“Because of the funding source that was being used, they didn’t want to impact the railroad crossing at all because that can delay, or, there’s just more time associated with getting railroad approval for a project so they wanted to separate that and do that as a separate, stand alone project.”
Clayton also explained what the city’s scope of the work in that area will consist of…
“As part of that project we’re replacing the water main and the sewer main along Central Avenue along with some other improvements, the storm sewer system and likely the electrical system, to make sure we’re in compliance with the clearance requirement. This agreement is actually an agreement between us and the Iowa D.O.T who is going to enter into an agreement with the engineers that will work on the utility side of the infrastructure improvement. They will also be doing the road side, but these costs are specifically attributable to any utility infrastructure improvements in that two block section.”
Under the agreement, the city of Estherville will reimburse the Iowa D.O.T for preliminary design costs estimated at nearly $56,000.
