Despite rainy weather, work on the old Highway 10 Turnback Project is progressing.

The crews from Tom’s Backhoe Service are scheduled to finish up work on three blocks of the old highway this week and move three blocks to the west next week.

The crews have been working on the three blocks between Ninth and Twelfth Streets N.W. the past week, and are planning to finish their sanitary sewer and water main replacement this week. The Brainerd contractor is also installing the storm sewer in those three blocks this week.

Contractor Tom Thompson said on Monday of this week at the weekly progress meeting he will be hauling in fill and restoring the road to a gravel base next week. His schedule depends somewhat on the weather, he noted.

Next Tuesday, just after the Independence Day holiday, residents along Second Avenue from Sixth to Ninth Street can expect to see the road in front of their homes being torn up as the construction equipment moves to the west. The contractor will set up temporary water services for the homes in this area to use when their water lines are being worked on.

The contractor is also leaving the actual intersection at 12th Street (Super America and Dairy Queen) untouched until later in the construction process to allow customer access to those businesses.

Business and/or property owners along the roadway are encouraged to attend weekly construction progress meetings at 10 a.m. Mondays at the Staples City Hall. This coming week only, the meeting will be on at 10 a.m. Tuesday due to the Monday holiday.

As of last Monday, crews had not encountered any soil contamination issues.

The work on the one-block long stretches of Ninth and Eleventh Streets should be finished this week, with the contractor planning to have a gravel surface in place by Wednesday of this week. The street would be opened up for local traffic at that point, but asphalt is not scheduled until later in July.