Updated construction plans for West Lake Drive projects in Detroit Lakes

DETROIT LAKES — Here’s the latest update on the West Lake Drive projects from Detroit Lakes City Engineer Jon Pratt. He said the schedule and plans have changed a bit from an earlier news release:

West Lake Drive – Phase 2 (County Road 6 to Pelican River):

• Hough continues to work on County Road 6. The work is taking a bit longer than originally planned due to poor soils that needed to be excavated/replaced and ground water conditions. They have completed the storm sewer installation and subgrade preparation. 
• The crew is currently working on placing an aggregate base on County Road 6 and anticipate having the area reopened to traffic by Wednesday afternoon.    
• Crews will then refocus efforts on grading the bike trail and driveways and getting these ready for concrete pavement. 

West Lake Drive Phase 1 (Legion Road to County Road 6):

• This segment of West Lake Drive will be closed to through traffic beginning Wednesday morning, May 3. The closure was delayed to allow work to be completed on County Road 6. 
  
  • As a reminder, a detour route will be posted. The closure and local access will look very similar to last year, with one-way local traffic from Legion Road, south to County Road 6.
  • Again, this will need to be one-way traffic and we ask that all residents please abide by the one-way limitation. We will be closing the eastern half of the roadway to facilitate construction activity. This will only leave room for a one-way lane of traffic on the western half of the street. 
• Crews will begin installation of dewatering wells and equipment on May 3. This installation will take most of the remaining week.  Dewatering will be limited to roughly half a dozen locations, and there will not be a need for a header pipe along the length of the project like last year. The dewatering is just to facilitate the installation of a few manhole structures needed for the stormwater system. 
• Next week (starting May 8) crews will be working on some retaining walls and possibly some minor grading operations along the proposed bike trail area. 
• More significant work will begin the week of May 15. Further updates will be provided closer to that time.