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The contractor is working on restoring the parking lot under the new downtown water tower at the corner of Fountain Street and Newton Avenue, according to city of Albert Lea construction updates.

The grading work is nearly done with pavement to follow next week. The city’s portions of the railing and retaining wall have been sandblasted, but their painting may need to wait until spring.

The tower holds 1 million gallons of water, helping the city meet a federal requirement of holding enough water for 1 day of use in case of system disruptions. The city maintains 5 water towers and uses an average of 3.5 million gallons of water a day. The new water tower was also needed for fire protection and economic development.

The following other projects are wrapping up: 

• Bancroft Bay parking lot and access road: The contractor completed the grading and seeding along the edges of the parking lot and road last week. The only work remaining is cleanup and minor corrections.
• Aquatic Center parking lot: Last week, crews graded and seeded the grass areas disturbed by the concrete repairs. This week the contractor hopes to take advantage of the forecasted warmer weather and complete the paint striping. After that all work will be complete.
• Fifth Street and Frank Hall Drive reconstruction: Last week the contractor completed rough grading in the boulevards and placed the temporary seed mixture to prevent erosion. All work for this fall is complete except for minor cleanup and correction items. Work slated for next spring includes final boulevard grading and sod placement, and installing the final asphalt layer.