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Road work on a project along Mower County Roads 4 and 7 will soon be under way after the contract for the job was awarded to Rochester Sand & Gravel.

Construction on County Road 4 between County Road 7 (670th Avenue) and County Road 9 (710th Avenue. Work on County Road 7 will be between 150th Street north of Adams and County Road 3 (200th Street).

The project is expected to start mid to late June.

Work will include:

• Excavating along both sides of the roadway and adding gravel to widen the subgrade, adding material to the existing inner ditch slopes, which will increase the road shoulders.

• Extending the existing culverts that cross the roadway, milling and removing the top 4 inches and adding 4 inches of compacted gravel.

• Construction of a new 24-foot wide bituminous driving surface with 2-foot aggregate shoulders.

The two curves on County Road 7 will be re-graded and “softened” by increasing the radii to allow for a higher designed speed than the existing curves.

This will require that both curves be physically relocated. The curves will be closed to traffic while this takes place; and the work will be done in two phases. When complete it will have a 34-foot wide paved surface. The 95-year-old box culvert bridge will also be replaced and the area around it will be cleaned up.

Closure of the curves will require that a short-term detour be implemented. Southbound transient traffic will be diverted east and west at County Road 3 (200th St). Traffic going to Taopi and LeRoy will be directed to use County Road 3 east to County Road 8 to Highway 45, while traffic going to Rose Creek and Adams will be directed to use County Road 3 to County Road 19 to State Highway 56.

Traffic going north out of Adams will be directed to use the same routes in reverse order. All of County Road 7 will be open to local traffic except for the curves.

It is anticipated that most of the work will be done under local traffic, except when constructing the curves on County Road 7, allowing land owners to come and go from their homes and farms. However, transient traffic will be discouraged/not be allowed.

When complete, almost 10 miles of road will be reconstructed. Thank you in advance for making this a successful project. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or for additional information.