Repairs to Center Avenue have risen to the top of the priority list as the city of Merrill plans for 2017 street projects. According to City Engineer Rod Akey, the winter has not been kind to the heavily traveled street and the surface is rapidly deteriorating.
The city’s Board of Public Works last Wednesday, voted to delay a couple of other projects slated for this year to free up funding for Center Avenue. A portion of Sixth Street was removed from the 2017 schedule in part due to the ongoing construction at Pine Crest Nursing Home. Also, a stretch of 10th Street between Sales Street and Memorial Drive, was postponed. Putting those projects off until 2018 will cover the expenses of repairing Center Avenue this year, Akey noted.
Repairs to Center Avenue would run from O’Day Street to Cty. G, excluding the roundabout. The plan approved by the Board of Public Works calls for milling three inches of existing surface and repaving with three inches of new asphalt, replacing curb and gutter as needed. The cost estimate for the project is $500,000. Tax Increment District funding would be used to pay project costs.