Minnesota Power moved utility poles during the early morning hours Thursday to accommodate ongoing underground utility work on state Highway 34 in Park Rapids.
The utility work, which consists of water, storm and sanitary sewer, will con-tinue on the south half of Highway 34 between Fair and Riverside and Western and Helten avenues through June 29.
In addition, grading work continues on the township road realignment south of the Highway 34 and CSAH 4 intersection at the east end of the project.
Allan Minnerath of Cen-tral Specialties, Alexandria, general contractor on the project, said gravel would be placed on 169th Avenue this week and the road could possibly be paved early next week.
Western Avenue South also should be graveled by the weekend.
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A detour from Western Avenue to Helten Avenue on Highway 34 is currently in effect and is expected to last five to seven weeks. West-bound traffic is routed north on Western Avenue to Monico Lane, east to Helten Avenue and south to High-way 34. Traffic from the op-posite direction will follow the detour in reverse.
Weekly construction meetings will continue at 1 p.m. Thursdays at the Park Rapids Area Library, lo-cated at 210 West 1st St.
