Small Town Experiences Busy Day
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A lot of people joke that if a motorist blinks on Highway 2 approximately ten miles east of Chinook, the individual will miss the town of Zurich. However, between the sub-surface investigation operations being performed by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the fiber optic cable installation being conducted by work crews for Charter Communications, the flow of traffic on US-2 between mile markers 410 to 417 in Blaine County near Zurich had slowed to a virtual crawl on Tuesday, September 22.
About their construction project, the MDOT warned motorists to expect miscellaneous activities, with delays of approximately five minutes, single lane closures, and flaggers while construction crews bored various sites in the area to collect core samples.
According to Jim Combs, who serves with the District 3 MDOT office in Great Falls, prior to any construction, the MDOT performs research that will enable the department to know what kinds of soils they are working with and whether they will have to conduct any special engineering to ensure the road surface will handle the vehicle traffic that operates along a roadway. "The sub-surface designates what kind of surface work needs to occur, and the geo-tech research provides us with that necessary data," Combs explained. A second crew was performing a pavement analysis.
"With all of the various projects, each crew had its own signs. I believe NorthWestern Energy was even out on that stretch on Tuesday conducting some utility work. Add that to the cable installation crews, and we had the ingredients for confusion," stated Glen Thackeray, who works in Road Maintenance for the MDOT out of the Harlem shop.
Another work crew in the Zurich area on Tuesday is making progress in their project to bury approximately 100 miles of fiber optic cable from Havre to Malta for Charter Communications. According to Charter Communications Senior Director Bret Picciolo, the physical construction for this project has been underway for several months.
"At this point, there isn't a ton of information to share," Picciolo stated. "That should change in the next month or two, and I'll be sure to follow up when more details become available. We are currently performing network upgrades that will allow us to deliver the full suite of Spectrum Internet, television, voice, and mobile products, which we plan to launch to several Hi-Line communities in early 2021."
Picciolo added: "There is much more to this project than installing new cable and extending our network. We are also working to complete behind-the-scenes network upgrades to our existing infrastructure. These upgrades will allow us to deliver internet, phone and mobile service, as well as a significantly enhanced video product to several Hi-Line communities."
In the absence of such flurried activity, the only thing kicking up dust near Zurich now are the livestock and the wind.
