Fixing Locust Road: Should it be done all at once or in segments?

Decorah City Council members agree that Locust Road needs fixing.  The road to NE Winneshiek County and southern MInnesota is showing its age.

City council members have agreed that paving Locust Road should be the city's next big street project--although that won't happen until 2015 at the earliest.

The latest proposal studied Monday night by city council members would widen the street to lanes that area either 32 feet or 34 feet wide.  It would also add a sidewalk and probably a bike lane.

But the latest proposal also calls for work being done only from the intersection with College Drive northeast to the wooded area beyond the two blocks of houses--leaving out the part of the road further up the hill.  City council members Randy Schissel and Jody Niess questioned whether it wouldn't be better to wait to bank money for the project so Locust Road could be repaved all the way north to the Decorah city limits.

City Engineer Lindsay Erdman says the complexity of the project may force the city to do the repaving in segments so that utility work can be done and so residents have access to their homes.  "It's a big undertaking," he told members of the city's Streets Committee.

Committee members took no action on the issue and will meet again in January to continue their discussions.