A challenging street construction project has reached the midway point in Albert Lea’s downtown.

A two-block stretch of St. Mary Avenue between West Main Street and West Clark Street, and the part of West William Street extending from the Eagles Club entrance on William Street west toward Euclid Avenue, are being rebuilt by a Faribault contractor.

The areas affected by the construction were built upon a drained slough — Spring Lake — and have been a problem for area drivers and businesses located there, according to City Director of Public Works Steve Jahnke.

“Every spring there were new potholes. The city has been spending $5,000 a year on filling these potholes,” Jahnke said.

The ongoing problems resulted in these streets being placed on a priority list for street repairs. The city has a program which ranks streets and roads according to their need of repair.

City engineers had estimated a cost of $413,000 for the project. The City Council accepted a bid of $363,000 from Heselton Construction of Faribault at its Sept. 22 meeting. The company had worked on many local street projects, including Margaretha Avenue last year.

“They do a good job,” Jahnke said.

For the St. Mary Avenue project, deep digging to install sewer lines was the toughest challenge faced by the contractors and is mostly complete. Construction began three weeks ago and is scheduled for completion by Nov. 16. Concrete curb and gutter work will be followed by a bituminous blacktop roadway. Previously, the area had concrete street surfaces. West William Street near the Albert Lea Eagles Club was one of the bumpiest streets in Albert Lea.

The Eagles Club began noticing problems with the streets near its service club nearly 10 years ago, according to a former club board member.

“We were getting a lot of comments from our members about having to be careful crossing the streets, because they were in such tough shape,” Ron Sorenson said.

The club’s board contacted the city engineering department in 2003 to speed up the process of solving the problem. Sorenson said he had hoped to see the work get done last year, but he is pleased to see the progress that has been made.

“It should go fast now.”

City engineers plan to move on to other areas of the city with street repair priorities in the near future.

“We don’t plan on any more construction projects in that area for the next five years,” Jahnke said.