Stretch of north Hershey Road to open

Thursday, September 6, 2007 11:41 PM CDT

NORMAL — While road construction continues to abound in the Twin Cities, one long-awaited project is finally in the finishing stages.

Hershey Road between Fort Jesse and Shepard roads could open by Monday, if weather allows striping work to finish and crews to install necessary roadway signs.

The completion not only will give drivers another route to such businesses as Menard’s and Sam’s Club, it also will allow another nearby project to get started.

Town engineer Gene Brown said work to extend Shepard Road east of Hershey to Eagles Landing subdivision is expected to start by mid-month and should be completed within two months.

Like the Hershey Road widening project, the extension of Shepard Road was on hold for years because of an eminent-domain trial regarding right-of-way for the projects. That issue was finally resolved, allowing the Hershey Road work to begin earlier this year.

The plan to widen Hershey Road and build a new intersection at Shepard Road had been on the town’s “to do” list for six years. The end of the road was closed for nearly a year because it was in such poor condition.

Rowe Construction Co. completed the Hershey Road project for a bid of $1,287,919 and was low bidder for the Shepard Road project at $511,242, 9 percent over the engineer’s estimate.

Once the Shepard extension is completed, Eagles Landing and other Twin City residents will be able to take Shepard from Airport Road to Hershey and onto Veterans Parkway.