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Drivers’ frustration level with the traffic on Highway 8 through Chisago City might relax somewhat when County Road 23, south of Green Lake, is done and the route reopens for an alternative to the highway. The anticipated completion date for #23 is mid-July, but the County Engineer Bill Malin is quick to add, that’s only “...if the weather cooperates.”

Dresel Contracting won the bid for the work being done on the county road, from between the golf driving range at the light, east to where #23 enters Chisago City from the south.

The project began last year. It entails adding turn lanes and bypasses and a center lane near the lake access on the south end of Big Green Lake, where there are also multiple driveways. The Keystone Avenue intersection was cleaned up, (see graphic.) and the hairpin curve was “flattened.”

There will be paved eight-foot shoulders when the road reconstruction is done, and an additional 2-feet of gravel shoulders.

Malin said rainy weather last fall and the damp start to this summer have not helped speed this project along.

Law enforcement officers are ticketing those who ignore the road closed signs and who have been trying to use the torn-up roadbed to avoid the Highway 8 mess.

Malin explained that these shortcutters have been causing delays along the project during work hours. He stressed that vehicles need to keep off #23 so the crews can finish. Anyone with a legitimate reason for being on the project stretch will certainly be allowed there, but others are being turned around or ticketed.

The first lift of bituminous was scheduled to be laid on the west end of #23 this week. The asphalt goes over the central 24 feet of the roadbed, then the shoulders receive gravel and shaping, and then the entire 44 foot wide roadbed gets a 2-inch layer of paving.

There’s also restoration and cleanup to be accomplished on the stretch closer to the Green Lake lake access. Seed or sod needs to be established and the new striping on the road isn’t done yet.

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