City to look at budget for improving gravel streets

     Buffalo Center is undertaking its first street project in six years this summer, but the number of streets needing work far exceeds what the city can afford in one year. The city plans to pave five blocks of roads this summer at a cost of a little over $400,000. The City Council heard from citizens and talked about the need for improvements on gravel roads during its monthly meeting last Wednesday.

     Cheri Mayland, who lives on the north end of 1st St. NW, said her gravel street has basically turned into a mud road, with standing water and holes in the surface. She wanted to know what the city’s plan is for fixing roads like hers.

     Mayor Troy Armstrong said the city does have several loads of gravel on order, but public works supervisor Bruce Bengtson says it will take a lot more rock to fix the city’s streets. He says if they put new rock into the holes in the streets, it will only wash back out, and they need to clear the streets down to the bottom of the holes and then build it back up with rock to do the job right. He said a lot of the gravel roads in town don’t have crowns on them anymore.

     See story in this week's Tribune.