Le Sueur orders plans for $8.5 million street project

The Le Sueur City Council voted on Monday authorizing city engineers to design an $8.5 million reconstruction of N. Fourth Street and Cathcart Street.

The street project entails a full reconstruction of the N. Fourth Street corridor between Bridge Street and Dakota Street as well as Cathcart Street between the N. Fourth Street intersection and Commerce Street. Crews would work to not only improve the pavement conditions of the street and the utilities underneath, but would add new sidewalks, trails, street lighting and adjust the width and intersections of the corridors to enhance the safety of the streets for pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

In conjunction with the city’s decision to order the North Fourth Street Project, the Le Sueur City Council approved a $2.6 million proposal from DGR Engineering to upgrade the corridors electric system. Funding for the project will come from from an electric revenue bond and the city is also exploring grant opportunities to finance the upgrades.

Funds for the electric upgrades are included in the $8.5 million estimate for the N. Fourth Street Project. To finance all of the street improvements, city staff have proposed issuing $7.3 million in bonds while most of the remainder would be financed through a $1.5 million Local Road Improvement Program grant awarded to the city last year. Dollars raised from the tax levy, utility enterprise funds and special assessments would be used to finance the city’s obligations.

The preliminary timeline anticipates contractor bids will be ready for approval in March of next year and construction to begin in May, 2025. Assessment rolls are scheduled for adoption in October, 2025 and the project is expected to reach completion toward the end of June, 2026.