Henning Township, city to complete joint road project

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

It was no secret to representatives from the Henning Township Board and the Henning City Council that Airport Road is in need of some major work. How exactly the joint township and city road gets repaired is still being worked out.

During a brief special city council meeting on Wednesday night, representatives from the Henning Township Board met with the Henning City Council and several staff members about the joint desire to repair Airport Road before it becomes too dilapidated to repair. Both sides have already come to a general agreement that the costs for repairing the road will be shared, but who takes the lead and how far down Airport Road the repairs will go was up for a brief discussion last.

Henning Township reached out to a local contractor who estimated the cost to reclaim, reshape and repave the road would be around $200,000. That cost was significantly lower than what the City of Henning was told by its engineers that said the cost to go from Highway 210 past the airport to the next intersection would be about double the price (that quick estimate repaired a much longer tract of the road than the one received by Henning Township).

Both sides seemed to favor the less expensive option of repairing the road just past the airport, but also expressed a desire to see if the county would participate in the project as well.

Henning Utilities Manager Ted Strand said Airport Road is utilized quite frequently by Otter Tail County when it goes from Highway 210 to the landfill just down the road. Since the road is only a 5-ton road it is beginning to show its age as it is not handling the added weight from the large trucks. He said even if the city and township replace the road it will not hold up long-term to the type of weight and vehicles that utilize it to go to the landfill. 

The plan is to reach out to the county to inquire about a cost-share, while also expressing a concern about the additional use on the 5-ton road. 

Alan Haugdahl, who was one of the representatives from the Henning Township Board, said the township will seek bids on the project and try to get a time frame for reclaiming the road. The hope was to complete the project this year and let it settle over the winter before putting down a final layer of bituminous next year. Due to the tight time line and need to get bids for the project it was not known last week whether that would be able to take place or not.

The city and township initially agreed to cost-share the project, pending any contribution the county was willing to make to help the project come to fruition.

Once bids and a time line are received the city and township agreed to have another joint meeting to go over a finalized plan for addressing the aging road.