City and district approve bids for joint street project on school campus

The city of Luverne and Luverne School District have been working on a “joint project” to address streets around the school that have been torn up because of the school construction project.
Both entities will pay separate contracts for their own work, on their own properties, but they were able to get a better price for the work by bidding the project jointly.
The district will pay:
•$51,900 to patch and overlay portions of the street located south of the middle-high school building to Dodge Street.
•$14,000 for an improved sidewalk from Dodge Street to the school.
•$113,000 to develop a slated parking lot for additional public parking in front of the middle-high school facing Kniss Avenue.
Superintendent Craig Oftedahl said the Luverne Education Legacy Foundation is planning to develop a garden adjacent to the school building’s front canopy.
The parking would enhance public access. “I have a strong feeling someone would step in and take care of it (the $113,000 cost),” he said.
The city's portion will cost $366,174, and Luverne City Council members approved the bid at their April 13 meeting.
City work consists of a mill off and overlay of West Adams, and Northeast Park Street will be a completely rebuilt asphalt road because of the age and draining issues of the road.
The city also approved an alternate bid of $58,727 to pour a trail connector from the bus barn area to the Luverne Loop to the west.
Road construction will start in June and be complete in August.