Principal construction for paving the streets in Becker is complete with  pavement marking (striping) completed this past weekend. Turf establishment (seeding) work is nearly complete with some sodding work remaining along the Fairway Lane neighborhood. 

 

“We're anticipating the contractor will complete the turf work next week (weather permitting),” said City Engineer, Randy Sabart. “The construction contract also provides for a turf maintenance (growing) period that will continue into next spring for a period of 45 days.” 

 

Several streets in the City of Becker have been under construction since late September for bituminous street reclamation, the removal of 3.5 inches of road sub-base materials and grading of the aggregate base. The affected roads were Bradley Blvd., Fairway Ln., Fairway Circle, Eagle Circle, River Circle, Cottonwood Blvd., Lee St., Balsam Blvd., Ash Blvd., Willow Blvd., Pineview Dr., Birch Ave., Rye St., Sherburne Ave. and areas of the golf course.

 

At some sites, private utility companies (gas, cable TV, telephone and electric) were on hand to locate and move existing lines.

 

Sabart said the construction projects proceeded as anticipated with no setbacks or construction-related surprises. The new pavement sections are designed to withstand the impacts associated with traffic for a period of 20 years.

 

“With periodic maintenance activities (crack sealing, chip seal coating) and a thin bituminous overlay later in the pavement life cycle, we generally see the streets reach 30 years before they need to be resurfaced or reconstructed,” Sabart said. 

 

The construction approach employed for the improvement in 2017 and for this year's project helped the city to increase the structural load-carrying capacity of the streets, he said. 

 

The City of Becker maintains a street capital improvement plan that helps prioritize which streets are improved and when they are to be done. While poor pavement conditions (such as potholes, rough ride, or poor drainage) do have an influence on the timing of a street improvement project, most of the streets in this year's project were originally graded in the late 1980's and had simply reached the end of their life expectancy.