A series of contracts awarded by the Fort Dodge City Council Monday evening ensure that barricades and construction equipment will be a common sight in town during the spring, summer and fall.

The council awarded contracts for work on roads and storm sewers.

Country Club Drive

Country Club Drive will be resurfaced this year using a technique new to Fort Dodge.

The existing street surface will be pulverized and compacted to form a base, and fresh asphalt will be poured on top of that base. Using this process will enable the street to remain open except for the day when the new asphalt is being applied.

The council voted 6-1 to hire Fort Dodge Asphalt Co. to do the work at a cost of $446,381.18.

Council members Kim Alstott, Neven Conrad, Dave Flattery, Andy Fritz, Terry Moehnke, and Lydia Schuur voted yes. Councilman Jeff Halter voted no.

“I’m not saying it’s not needed,” Halter said. “What I’m saying is there are other areas and other streets that are in worse condition and have been on the CIP (capital improvements plan) for decades.”

Moehnke said there is a lot of traffic on Country Club Drive, and much of it comes from out of town. The current deteriorated state of the street doesn’t represent Fort Dodge well, he said.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for us to use some new technology,” he added.

Annual repaving project

The council voted unanimously to hire Fort Dodge Asphalt Co. to do the yearly repaving at a cost of $907,555.75.

Among the streets planned for repaving this year are 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th streets between Central Avenue and Second Avenue North. Also Central Avenue between Third Street and the Canadian National Railway tracks will be repaved.

Northwest storm sewer

The council hired Nels Pederson Co. Inc., of Badger, to install a new storm sewer between First and Second streets northwest at a cost of $327,446.

Moehnke, who represents Ward 1, which includes the city’s northwest side, said the work is “long overdue.”

Other bidders for the job were Rasch Construction Inc, Fort Dodge ($331,481); Doyle Construction, Fort Dodge ($343,032); J & K Contracting, Urbandale ($382,784); Crow River Construction, New London, Minnesota ($419,075); and On Track Construction, Nevada ($447,575).

Downtown drainage

An area near Second Avenue South and 12th Street has remained infamous for flooding during heavy rains. A project approved by the City Council Monday is intended to solve that problem by installing a new, larger storm sewer to carry rain water from Second Avenue South and 12th Street to the Des Moines River.

S. M. Hentges & Sons Inc., of Jordan, Minnesota, was hired to do the job at a cost of $1,369,194.45.

Other bidders were Crow River Construction, New London, Minnesota ($1.752,343.50) and J & K Contracting, Urbandale ($2,456,786.50).

Those projects aren’t the only ones on tap for the upcoming construction season. In December, the council hired Rasch Construction Inc. to install new water mains on the city’s northwest side at a cost of $1,970,666.