UPDATE: Washington Street Reopens After Monday Construction

UPDATE: Washington Street between Fifth and Seventh streets reopened to traffic shortly after 5 p.m. Monday.

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ORIGINAL STORY: Driving in downtown Northfield got a little trickier on Monday.

Washington Street between Fifth and Seventh streets is closed because of work related to the Sixth Street reconstruction project.

The closure is expected to last until 5 p.m. Monday.

Monday’s work will involve connecting new pipes to the city’s existing sanitary sewer system at the intersection of Washington and Sixth streets, says a memo from Sean Simonson, the city’s Engineering Tech Coordinator.

“During this closure, motorists are encouraged to use alternate north/south routes such as Union Street and Water Street in lieu of Washington Street,” says the memo.

For several weeks, Washington Street has served as an alternate downtown route because the intersection of Division Street and Sixth Street has been closed to traffic.

But for Monday, anyway, drivers will need to rely on a detour for the detour.

Here is the latest about the Sixth Street reconstruction project from the July 12 City Administrator’s Memorandum.

Utility crews finished up all of the utility installations on Phase I early this week, and started with the sanitary sewer installations on Phase II. Grading crews were on-site this week to begin sub-cutting the existing road base out and placing Select Granular Sand and Class V gravel base on the majority of Phase I.

Next week, utility crews will continue with sanitary sewer installations, and watermain installations on Phase II. Crews expect to finish all of the utility installations by the end of next week.