MINOT — Death Valley Road is finally going to be paved from one end to the other.

“Twenty years ago, the Death Valley Road wasn’t even plowed all the way through,” Town Administrator Arlan Saunders said Tuesday. “Paving it all the way through marks a milestone.”

Over the years, the town has made improvements: a little gravel here, a little widening there, paving in from one end and paving in from the other. This summer will see an overall paving of the mile and a half road.

Expanding on Highway Supervisor Scott Parker’s report that the town crew was “getting ready to start in Death Valley,” Saunders said the crew will undertake all that’s needed to establish a solid base for what will be an important link in the town’s road network.

The crew will re-ditch the entire road, widening it where necessary, installing new culverts and laying down gravel.

“The road has been very hard to maintain,” Saunders said. “School buses now run through it, keeping the road open is sometimes a problem.”

According to minutes of Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, a contract for culverts was awarded to W.H. Shurtleff Co., which submitted the lowest of three offers. 

Saunders said the culverts ordered for this year’s work were approximately $9,000.

The other bidders were from E.J. Prescott and Paris Farmers Union.

Saunders told the board that advertisements for paving bids are in local papers this week, and he has directly contacted nine companies for quotes.

The bids are due Monday, May 22, and will be opened at the selectmen meeting at 7 p.m. that evening.

Saunders said Webster Tree Services will start cutting trees along Death Valley Road as soon as the town receives a certificate of insurance.

Selectman Steve French said the town well passed the latest water test, according to the meeting minutes.

Selectman Eda Tripp reported there are two properties that have been foreclosed because of taxes owed. Unpaid property taxes for 2014, 2015 and 2016 total $106,131.

Tripp also asked Fire Chief Dean Campbell why the Central Fire Station has not had the siding on its north face replaced yet.

Campbell and French said it would be done when it stops raining.