Grand Forks Construction Not Coming Fast Enough for Some

Rough roads in Grand Forks will be rebuilt this summer.
 
However, the repairs are coming too late for some local leaders.
 
Columbia Road, a major thoroughfare, will be expanded and rebuilt, but it’s a project that some say should have been completed years ago.

“That stretch of road is perhaps the worst road in the city right now,” claims Grand Forks Principal Engineer Michael Yvarow
 
Columbia Road is being torn out and expanded between 11th Street and 14th Street South.

Four lanes will become six.

It’s a top priority for the city.
 
Yvarwo adds, “Everybody is always asking me every time they see me about it, ‘when’s it getting built?’ And there a good reason for it. It’s pretty bad.”
 
But Grand Forks City Council Member Terry Bjerke says drivers should have had a smoother road by now.
 
“We shouldn’t wait to repair roads,” Bjerke explains. “They’re badly damaged, like this one obviously.”

The stretch of Columbia Road was supposed to be redone a couple years ago, but the federal funds weren’t there.

The city is just now finally getting that money this year.
 
“I think overall, between the federal, state and local governments, they don’t seem to make roads and infrastructure the priority it should be,” Bjerke adds. “I think they have enough money. They just don’t spend it appropriately.”
 
The other main project for Grand Forks this summer is repairing 47th Street South by South Middle School.

But other problem spots remain.

Bjerke says 42nd Street is in dire need of repairs.
 
He says, “For one thing I think it’s pretty bad for their shocks.”
 
That road is on the repair list, for 2018.

Crews will continue to work on Columbia Road in 2017, not as quickly as some would like.
 
“The federal money. That’s the problem,” says Yvarow.
 
It’s a problem one local politician says can lay the groundwork for more issues.
 
“It erodes the confidence in government,” Bjerke says. “When people complain over and over again about a specific thing and it doesn’t get resolved, they lose trust and faith in their leadership, and that’s not a good thing as a country.”
 
Construction is slated to start in Grand Forks in May.

This year’s projects should wrap up some time in October.