Highway 61 reconstruction

Downtown access shifts as construction proceeds

Jul 8, 2020

Marion Street has replaced Chestnut Street as one of three streets vehicles can use to access downtown Lake City during the Highway 61 reconstruction project. Woodburn Street and Doughty Street remain open to vehicle traffic. Pedestrians can cross into and out of downtown at those intersections...

Letter: Make the traffic lights permanent

Jul 1, 2020

My name is Michelle Charlene Larkins and I use a power wheelchair to get around for long distances. I live in the Pepin Apartments on the corner of Marion and 10th Streets. Since the warmer weather and the construction has begun on Highway 61 through the heart of downtown, they put a traffic light...

Letter: High Street ripe for tragedy

Jul 1, 2020

Today we lost a beloved resident of our neighborhood. Thank goodness it was not a child or other person. Instead it was a rare and beautiful albino squirrel that everyone loved to watch as it scurried around playfully on neighborhood lawns. Today it lay dead in the street - crushed under the...

Stretch of highway could reopen by this weekend

Jun 17, 2020

By the time you read this, it might be possible to take a left off of Grant Street onto Highway 61 and get to Hok-Si-La and parts north for the first time in months. From the weekly Highway 61 reconstruction project update meeting Tuesday came the news that the northern stretch of the project...

Storm sewer work on north end of highway project

May 13, 2020

This photo by Steve Brown shows some of the storm sewer work taking place on the north end of the Highway 61 reconstruction project. During the weekly project update meeting Tuesday, Dick Swenke of Rochester Sand and Gravel said work on the storm sewer will continue over the next week. Topsoil...

Downtown road work spells opportunity for treasure hunters

May 13, 2020

Bruce Kennedy was hunting for treasure May 7 in downtown Lake City. Equipped with knee pads, and a trowel, he waved the search coil of his metal detector back and forth over the bare ground where Highway 61 is under construction. He wasn’t finding much. “For one thing I think they dug the streets...

Downtown work goes underground

May 6, 2020

At the weekly Highway 61 reconstruction project progress report Tuesday, Dick Swenke, Rochester Sand and Gravel’s public information coordinator, provided an update on the work that took place last week and what’s coming in the week ahead. On the north end of the project between Central Point Road...

Downtown restaurant opens in Patton Park

May 6, 2020

Cinco de Mayo was on Tuesday. It’s the annual celebration of the Mexican army’s victory over the French Empire in the Battle of Puebla. The appearance of a Mexican food trailer in Patton Park on that day was fitting, if coincidental. But it is something of a victory for the owners of Fiesta...

Detour sparks confusion, concern

Apr 30, 2020

With road construction taking place along two stretches of Highway 61 in Lake City, officials have fielded complaints of inadequate signage and extra traffic on city streets from drivers short-cutting the marked detours. Traffic increased along North High Street and South Oak Street, including...

Bird’s-eye view of Highway 61 construction

Apr 23, 2020

Steve Brown of Lake City has been monitoring progress on the Highway 61 reconstruction with weekly drone flights. This photo was taken Monday, April 20.