BEATRICE - Beatrice City officials say the second phase of water main replacement in the downtown area is close to completion. Myers Construction said it anticipates opening all lanes of Court Street from 7th to 9th sometime by the middle of this week.


A third phase of work, on Market Street from 3rd to 6th Street, is getting underway today. Crews will set up on the west side of 3rd Street near Market. Parking on the south side of Market Street will be limited during the third phase of the construction.  Phase three is projected to be completed in about four weeks.


After helping complete the final stages of water main work in the heart of the downtown, Beatrice city street crews have also taken advantage of good weather to get several projects done before winter weather hits.


"We were really able to get done quite a bit of asphalt this season. It got us off track a little bit when we had to jump off and finish up the water project down on Court Street. but that was something that had to be done. We took care of it...asphalt is just something that we do, and we were able to help out."


Street Superintendent Jason Moore says his crews hope to complete a few remaining projects this fall, if weather cooperates. "We still have a couple of spots of concrete that we're hoping we get some decent weather in November that we're really going to try taking care of. There's a valley at 8th and Elk that we want to get taken out and replaced, that's busted up. We've got two spots on Industrial (Row) that we want to get taken care of. We've got one spot on West Mary that we really would like to get taken care of before it gets too cold."


Moore says the department has fitted the necessary equipment on trucks and is ready for the snow season. Although some areas of Nebraska in the southwest, west and central received snow as much as four inches of snow over the weekend, the snow missed much of southern and southeast Nebraska.