Construction is underway on Main Street and moving quickly. On Monday morning, removals started at
the intersection of Third Avenue East and Main Street and worked to the west toward First Avenue. The
existing pavement, curb and gutter, trees grates and lights were removed early this week, with completion
near the intersection of First Avenue on Tuesday. Following the removals, snow fencing was placed along
the existing brick pavers to allow pedestrian access to businesses in the first phase of construction.
On Tuesday, R.L. Larson replaced the existing fire hydrants at the intersections of Second and Third Avenue.
Thank you to all property owners along the first phase in working with the contractor for the temporary
water outage during the hydrant replacement.
On Wednesday, R.L. Larson started with the sanitary sewer replacement on the first phase. With two crews
in town, one started at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and the other at Third Avenue both working their
way to the west. The crew working in the downtown portion of the replacement area between Second and
Third Avenues is nearly complete with the sewer replacement including services on that block but stopped
work for the week a little early today with the rain. The crew replacing the sewer east of Third Avenue will
continue working to the west, with assistance from the second crew next week with the deeper sewer main
replacement.
On Monday, one of the crews will begin work back in the downtown area with sewer main replacement at
the intersection of Second Avenue. This work will require the closure of the intersection for the day.
Access to businesses on the north side of the roadway should utilize the back alley near the railroad tracks
until the utilities can be replaced. In addition to the sewer replacement in the intersection, a short shut
down of water to properties between Second and Third Avenue may be needed to stub water north on
Second Avenue in advance of Phase 1B, which will be connected to in the future.
By mid-week, both crews will be busy working on the sewer main replacement with one crew continuing
east of Third Avenue and the other crew concentrating on the block between First and Second Avenue East.
Following the sewer main replacement, services will be connected to properties along the block, which will
require a short-term sidewalk closure and removal of brick pavers to make the connections at the property
lines. Following the replacement, temporary mats or boardwalks will be placed in the area of the
excavation to allow for pedestrian access.
The current schedule is outlining a completion of all underground utilities in the first phase in
approximately two weeks, with surface grading to follow. With the expedited schedule, traffic control
signage will begin going up mid to late next week for Phase 2, from Fourth Avenue to Sixth Avenue West.
2024 Main Street Project Update
Main Street, Second Avenue Northeast, and Seventh Avenue Southeast
The signage will be placed in advance of removals, which are tentatively scheduled to begin the week of
May 6th.
On Monday morning, staff from the City and Apex will be in the back room at Lake’s Café from 8:00 to 8:30
and will be available to discuss schedule updates and other concerns from property owners, citizens, or
other interested community members.
If you have any questions, or want additional information on the project, the Perham Chamber of
Commerce has created a webpage dedicated to the project, which can be accessed at this link
(https://www.perham.com/2024msrp/). For more specific questions, feel free to contact the City Engineer,
Jade Berube, via email at jade.berube@apexenggroup.com, or City Manager, Jonathan Smith at
jsmith@cityofperham.com.
Wednesday April 25th Construction Photo
