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Craig — The freshly laid asphalt glistened in the summer sun as city road workers redirected First Street traffic Tuesday.

City engineer Bill Earley said the construction was a momentary inconvenience for drivers, but the street needs the renovations.

First Street - between Ranney Street and Highway 13 - will be under construction through Friday as part of the city's plan to repair the stretch of road. The undertaking that began Monday is an effort to fix the ruts made by passing cars.

"The primary problem is the truck traffic," city manager Jim Ferree said. "All the big trucks that go through there put a lot of weight on the road, so it's pretty badly rutted now."

Earley describes the street as a "Hazmat bypass."

"Trucks that carry hazardous materials are always coming through," Earley said. "There are also pipeline shipments that are transported through here. It's important to be safe with that kind of stuff."

Standing rainwater in ruts has threatened safe traffic, as well.

A Department of Local Affairs grant provided $345,000, which the city matched for a total budget of $690,000. Elam Construction was hired to complete the roadwork, while members of Grand Junction-based One Stop Traffic Control handle the street's flow of cars.

Elam has employed a rotomill to improve the edges of First Street between Ranney Street and Mack Lane to better accommodate the difference in level between the street, the curb and the gutter. The leveling will make the street stronger and better equipped for traffic.

"There'll be an inch-and-a-half overlay on the east side of the street and a two-inch overlay on the west, since it doesn't have a curb," Road and Bridge Department Director Randy Call said.

The construction will be reinforced July 7 to 9.

Call said an extra day of initial work seems unlikely, since the workers currently are ahead of schedule.

"They probably won't need to work next Monday, but you never know if the equipment may have problems or something," Call said.

Ferree is pleased with the progress made on the project.

"It's going great so far," he said. "They're hard at work and under budget."