MnDOT lays out plan, transportation projects for Mower County
Published 8:57 am Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Within the next decade, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) hopes to complete a list of much-needed projects to update transportation infrastructure in Mower County.
The Mower County Board met for its regular session on Tuesday afternoon, where Ronda Allis, planning director for MnDOT District 6, gave an update regarding the overall 10-year Capital Highway Investment Plan (CHIP) that involves repairing, replacing and updating infrastructure projects and roadways in the county. Some projects were already funded, decided upon and in progress, and will be completed in the next four years.
However, the outer six-year timeframe for other projects may be subjected to additional changes and may not necessarily remain the same even within the next week, according to Allis. Some bigger projects are anticipated to happen in later years, such as an Austin Design Build in 2023, where there are goals to replace four bridges and rehabilitate three. There’s also hopes to replace the Interstate 90 bridge near 28th Street in 2021.
“You’re going to see a lot of work,” Allis said to the county commissioners. “However, (projects) may be different in 2019 or may not look the same from when I presented to you today, and if I bring it back next week, it may look different.”
Also new from the state are mandates that require MnDOT to be transparent, and post criteria and methodology for all project selections, scores for which projects were selected and evaluated, as well as going into detail on why certain projects weren’t selected by officials to receive upgrades, rehabilitation, or funding.
This is not to be confused with project development, since a selection is the decision to fund a project and add to the list of planned and programmed projects, while project development is the process of deciding the details of what’s included or not included in budget, public involvement and stakeholder coordination, environmental review and permits, construction timeline, staging and traffic management, and contracting and delivery mechanism, according to Allis.
“It’s going to be a busy 10 years,” added Commissioner Jerry Reinartz.
Here are several projects that were outlined for 2019-2028 CHIP in Mower County. Note that some of these projects may be subjected to change within the outer six years of the plan:
2019
• Repaving Highway 16 and making ADA compliant improvements from I-90 to Tracy Road in Spring Valley.
• Highway 218, Pershing Avenue in Lyle with a bypass lane and a right turn lane
• Highway 63 cable median barrier installation from Stewartville to Highway 52
2020
• Highway 105 repaving from Iowa state line to Mower County
• Repaving Highway 56 from LeRoy to Taopi
2021
• Highway 218, replace bridges 50803 and 50604 over I-90
• Replace bridge 9504 on I-90 at 28th Street
2022
• Repaving eastbound lanes from Freeborn County Road 45 near Petran to Highway 105 near Austin and replace bridge 9728
• Repaving eastbound lanes from Freeborn County Road 46 near Petran to Highway 105 near Austin
2023
• Highway 251 repaving from I-35 to Highway 218
• I-90 Austin Design Build to replace four bridges and rehabilitate three bridges
• Highway 56 replace bridge 8489 over stream between LeRoy and Taopi
•I-90 repaving from east of Mower County Road 1 to east of Highway 63
2024
• I-90 bridge deck replacements near Highway 56, County Road 20, County Road 15 in Mower County, County Road 6 and County Road 35 in Olmsted County
• Highway 218 repaving from the west of the I-90 junction to south of Highway 30 junction in Mower County
• Highway 56, replace box culvert 6468 over stream with bridge near Rose Creek
2025
• Highway 218 repaving from Iowa border to east of I-90 junction in Mower County
2026
• I-90 repaving all lanes from Highway 105 to Mower County Road 46
• Highway 56 repaving from County Road 45 to city limits of Brownsdale in Mower County
• Highway 30 repaving from Highway 218 in Blooming prairie to Highway 56 in Hayfield
2027
• I-90 repaving all lanes from Highway 105 to Mower County Road 46