Highway 14 reconstruction starts

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- All systems are go for a Monday start on Minnesota Department of Transportation's nearly $7 million reconstruction of U.S. Highway 14 from 7th North Street to the west city limits.

M R Paving of New Ulm finished paving the 20th North Street extension which connects up with Front Street late Friday. It was the last step in preparing 20th North, Front and 3rd North streets as detours for this summer's construction schedule.

"The street will be striped Monday morning, and when that's dry and ready for traffic the barricades will go up," said MnDOT Chief Inspector Marv Kruger.

However, that's not the only change involving 20th North Street, Kruger said.

For controlling the increased flow of detour traffic, four-way stop signs will be in place Monday at the intersection of 20th North and North Broadway, Kruger said. There also will be a stop sign for motorists approaching 20th North on Minnesota Street, and there will be a stop sign on 19th North Street at its intersection with Front Street.

Kruger said motorists entering the city on Highway 14 from the west will be instructed to use the left lane, once they've passed Garden Street, for turning onto the 20th North Street detour.

Detour routes for this season's planned construction are 20th North Street from Highway 14 to Front Street, Front Street from 20th North to 3rd North, and 3rd North Street from Front to North Broadway.

"I would also like to remind the motorists who use the alleys to access some of the businesses affected by the detour to use caution while driving the alleys."

As for the actual construction start on Highway 14, Dave Domm, Mathiowetz Construction Company vice president, said work will begin about 10 a.m. at the 7th North intersection by Hardee's.

"We'll first be up doing some work on Highway 29 by Cash Wise preparing it for next year's detour. Then, we'll move over and start milling (the blacktop) between 7th and 9th North," Domm explained.

Provisions also have been made to allow some local traffic during construction, according to Domm.

"People will be able to drive on Broadway after we start. With the milling, we'll be taking it down to the concrete base so we'll be able to keep one lane open for local traffic."

Once the concrete base is removed exposing the gravel sub-surface for utility trenching, then that segment will be closed to local traffic

Construction work will be done in three-block increments so local traffic will be able to cross over Broadway at the end of each third block, Domm said. It's also written into the construction contract that the 12th North intersection will be kept open to cross traffic during the two weekends of Heritagefest, MnDOT Project Engineer Robert Williams said.

Kruger said the first of MnDOT's weekly briefing meetings for the public will be held 1 p.m. Monday outside the Brown County License Bureau building at 1900 N. Franklin, across Highway 14 from the cemetery.

"I'll be there for sure, but I don't know how many others will be there because everybody will be pretty busy getting started. If it's inclement weather, the meeting will be held inside in the conference room," Kruger said.

Domm said he and the firm's on-site project supervisor, Keith Olson, will be at the meeting.

"We also plan to have representatives of our sub-contractors there, but I'm not going to have all of them there at every meeting. We'll just have the sub-contractors who are involved in the work at the time there," Domm said.