/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

State highway projects nearing completion in Marshall area

MARSHALL — It’s been a busy summer, not just for municipal road construction, but for state highway projects, too. Road crews have been working on several construction projects in the Marshall area for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. While some of those projects are still underway, they are getting close to completion, a MnDOT District 8 spokesperson said Friday.

Some of the highway projects in the Marshall area this summer included resurfacing on Minnesota Highway 19 between Vesta and Marshall, Minnesota Highway 68 between Wabasso and Milroy, Minnesota Highway 67 near Echo, and resurfacing on U.S. Highway 75 between Ivanhoe and Lake Benton. In addition, MnDOT started work on a new left turn lane on U.S. Highway 59 at the intersection with Lyon County Road 6, and on seal coating projects on sections of Highway 59 and Minnesota Highway 30.

“We have been experiencing some delays,” due to wet weather in August and September, said Mandi Lighthizer-Schmidt, public affairs coordinator for MnDOT District 8. However, area resurfacing projects are making progress.

District 8 covers an area of southwest Minnesota stretching roughly from Pipestone northeast to Willmar and Hutchinson.

In the Marshall area, resurfacing work on Highway 19 is getting close to an end, Lighthizer-Schmidt said. Cold in place recycling (CIR) work on the highway finished on Friday, she said, and work crews will start putting down a final overlay for the road surface on Monday.

CIR is a new technique for MnDOT projects in our district, Lighthizer-Schmidt said. The existing asphalt pavement is milled up, crushed and re-mixed with oil, and laid back down on the roadway.

“It tends to be more efficient, because you’re using recycled material,” Lighthizer-Schmidt said. The Highway 19 project “is the second project we’ve done” with CIR in District 8, she said. It’s also the first time in the district that CIR has been used with the road still open to traffic.

Highway 19 will still be open to traffic when overlay work starts next week, Lighthizer-Schmidt said. Motorists should watch for flaggers.

Lighthizer-Schmidt said work on the turn lane project on Highway 59 south of Marshall has met with some delays but is still ahead of schedule. Currently, crews are doing grading and other work on the west side of the intersection, but Lyon County Road 6 to the east has been opened up.

Lighthizer-Schmidt said anticipated completion for the Highway 59/County Road 6 intersection is in early October.

The mill and overlay planned for Minnesota Highway 67 is making progress as well. Lighthizer-Schmidt said the project area was receiving a final mill this week, and then paving work will begin.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today