Construction continues, crews work through snow

Progress on the road and utility improvement project on Wrangell’s main street is moving along, with construction crews working through the snow as of Tuesday morning.

Construction work is concentrated near the intersection of Front and Lynch Streets, as of earlier this week, with crews and equipment occupying the road from approximately Wells Fargo Bank to the Kadin building.

Car traffic has been blocked on the city’s main street from the bank to near Campbell Drive. However, after weeks of being closed off, the road in front of Ottesen’s True Value Hardware store is open.

At a project meeting March 1, McGraw Custom Construction Superintendent Mike Ashton said crews would be excavating the road this week to install a new main water line. Work would continue to move towards Campbell Drive, he said.

“The traffic flow will change as we work our way down the street,” Ashton said. “It will be increasing, it will be decreasing. It will move forward, it will come back.”

Once the water line is in place, crews will connect water and sewer hook-ups over a period of approximately two weeks, with storm drain installation to follow, Ashton said.

In order to continue to keep the public informed on construction progress and traffic control plans, Project Engineer Eric Voorhees said he would be coordinating with the local radio station KSTK to have frequent updates on air.