A reader residing along 14th Street in Cloquet messaged to note how progress on the street’s reconstruction had reached the paving stages this week following a summer spent detouring due to underground utility upgrades.

“Yippy! No more detouring,” wrote the tipster.

Only, not quite yet.

The paving had proceeded from the roundabout at 14th Street and Washington Avenue north toward Prospect Avenue. Crews were continuing to rebuild curbs and sidewalks south of Washington Avenue along 14th Street toward Tall Pine Lane. Street repaving will follow.

Carlton County administrator Dennis Genereau confirmed the project is nearing its end.

“It’s got a second layer of bituminous (pavement) coming,” he said, adding that 14th Street ought to be reopened “sometime in the second half of this month.”

The finished sidewalks along 14th Street were noticeably wider. At 10 feet wide, the sidewalks feature room for foot, wheelchair, scooter and pedal traffic moving in both directions. Aspen Arms apartments was also the beneficiary of new sidewalks and pavement.

The roundabout at 14th Street and Washington Avenue was completed last month, opening for traffic moving east-west along Washington.

Reconstruction work began in the summer and residents are in their fourth month of enduring a lengthy portion of 14th Street being closed. Rationing concrete at the site means it’s taking longer to get volumes needed for progress, Genereau explained.

“They’re doing a good job,” Genereau said of construction crews. “People are excited to get that open. I am, too.”

The intersection at Maplewood Avenue and 14th Street closed Oct. 10 as part of the project and will reopen Oct. 24.