Local road construction begins

The first of three large-scale road projects started earlier this week as crews began removing concrete that served as a temporary road surface on part of North Haskett Street.

Expected to take a month to complete, crews will resurface several blocks of North Haskett between East 15th North to the entrance of Legacy Park near East 19th North Street.

The west side of the road was paved last summer as part of a long-term project to upgrade the city's underground water transmission lines. Other sections of North Haskett that were not paved during the water line project are also expected to receive a new layer of asphalt as crews work on the street, according to city public works director Wayne Shepherd.

To prepare the street for paving, crews must first remove roughly 2,000 tons of concrete on the street. When that phase is complete, city road crews will grind up the remaining asphalt on the east side of the street and then reshape the surface in preparation for the final layer of asphalt.

According to Shepherd, the repaving portion of the project is expected to follow July 15.

The water line upgrade that tied up North Haskett and several other streets on the city's west side last summer represented the first in a series of long-term projects aimed at improving the city's water transmission system.

Four years ago, an update to the city's master plan identified a number of deficiencies and weaknesses in the water lines running beneath this part of Mountain Home. It became an issue during the summer months when the city wells were pumping more water than these lines could carry.

Once the Haskett Street road repair are complete, city road and pavement crews are scheduled to apply a chip seal layer along North and South 3rd East streets in early August. The project will start at the intersection of East 6th South Street and continue several blocks to East 8th North Street.

After the chip seal has several days to settle, crews will come back and apply fog coating -- a thin layer of liquid asphalt -- to seal in the road surface, Shepherd said.

In addition to the street, city crews plan to apply chip sealant to several of the city's parking areas, including Mountain View Cemetery, the Mountain Home Public Library, the Parks and Recreation Activity Center and the cook shack parking area next to Carl Miller Park.

Two weeks later, crews are scheduled to apply a fog coating on the streets in the Rocky Mountain Subdivision, located between North 14th East and North 18th East streets on the north side of town. According to Shepherd, this additional layer of protection keeps water from seeping into the asphalt surface while giving the pavement added strength.