Found: The Only Pavement NOT Under Construction in Rochester

Between the building boom and various road construction projects across Minnesota's Med City, we were actually able to spot a piece of pavement that didn't have an orange barrel on it!

There are no fewer than seven major building construction projects underway in Rochester, with even more set to start in the near future. And, of course, there are the usual road construction projects underway as well.

Why, on my drive into the Quick Country 96.5 Worldwide Headquarters in downtown Rochester alone, I encountered road construction on West Circle Drive, a construction project on 2nd Street Southwest near the Kwik Trip, the Berkman project across from St Marys, the Discovery Square projects on both 6th Street and on 2nd Avenue, not to mention the road construction project that has 4th Street completely torn up.

At one point a few weeks ago, both the roads outside our Townsquare Media Communications Complex were closed-- leading me to wonder if parachuting into our parking lot from Mayo One as it flies overhead might be the best way to get to work.

But, drive I did-- and tried to take a quick detour along 1st Avenue. But, there's the water-feature project that has that street torn up in front of the parking ramp, so you can't head south past Historic 3rd Street. And because 3rd Street is one-way headed west, the detour takes you right back to 2nd Avenue-- which is closed as you head to 4th Street.

Add in the Highway-52 resurfacing project south of Highway-63 all the way to I-90, along with the roundabout being built near Eyota, and I'm surprised there hasn't been a shortage of orange construction barrels!

Is there a stretch of road in our area that isn't under construction or isn't impacted by a construction project these days?!? (Actually, yes-- the picture to the left clearly shows a piece of pavement from West Center Street downtown that is completely free of any construction. Of course, the construction-free zone only stretches for about 4 feet in either direction, but still, it's a start!)

Things will no doubt be pretty nice once these projects are all done, but in the meantime, getting around downtown is wee bit tricky, isn't it?

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc