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N.D.- Long awaited construction is taking place on raising up Dickey County Highway 3 about 10 miles west of Oakes. The road has been under enormous amounts of water this year, and bureaucratic measures were in the way of even starting the process.

Dickey County Emergency Manager Charlie Russell says that dirt has been moving quite rapidly, and last Friday, the dirt was piled high and long enough to reach both sides of the road that was still above water.

Russell says he expects work with laying down the road by the end of next week, but noted that he did not expect the road to be paved this year.

“As I understand it, you’re going to have a dirt patch there through the winter.” said Russell. “I think you’re going to see that a lot throughout the county. You have to have warm days to get in there and lay the pavement down and it has to have a certain amount of time to compact. Who knows, we could very well be in a situation where the road needs to be raised again because of all the water that is still out there.”

Russell noted engineers are working on trying to find a way to drain water off that area, which is the lowest point in all of Dickey County, but so far it has proved to be unsuccessful.