Closing in on completion of downtown water main construction

BEATRICE – Since late August, the major east-west route through a southeast Nebraska city’s downtown area has been closed. But that’s not far from being over.

A reopening of Court Street in Beatrice is still on track before the end of October. City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says that stretch of water main replacement work from Fourth to Fifth is the closest to completion.

"Pretty close to being done, I know Jason (Moore, Street Supt) has some additional asphalt work they want to do in that area there, and so hopefully they'll get that done early this week and be able to open parts of that road later this week."

Court has been barricaded from Fourth Street to Seventh Street, as Myers Construction replaces major water mains that are upwards of a century old and finishes the service connections to businesses. "We're hoping to open it up in bits and pieces, rather than keep the whole thing closed any longer than we have to."

The east part of the work zone….Fifth to Seventh, still has some areas that need to be filled in and paved over.

Tempelmeyer says despite a project that replaces equipment below ground for decades...the work has been without any major surprises. "Pretty smoothly...the guys haven't told me anything that they ran into that was unusual or unexpected...so knock on wood, I think things are going well."

During the construction, north-south traffic has been able to use Fifth, Sixth and Seventh…and the goal has been to finish the entire project by the time the holiday shopping season gets rolling…and in time for an annual Halloween event downtown. "We should have it open by Halloween. We'll be working with Main Street (Beatrice) to make sure that The Night of the Great Pumpkin will be able to go on downtown, as planned."

Despite the traffic disruption, the city administrator says the public has reacted favorably and understands the need for the upgrade.