Photo by Deb Gau MnDOT District 8 engineer Kelly Brunkhorst answered questions about upcoming state highway projects in southwest Minnesota during a Thursday meeting with the Marshall Area Transportation Group.

MARSHALL — Maintaining the pavement on southwest Minnesota highways is going to be one of the challenges facing the Minnesota Department of Transportation in the future, MnDOT District 8 Engineer Kelly Brunkhorst said this week.

“We’ve done some analysis, our pavement conditions are going to deteriorate quite rapidly coming up here. We have some pavement model projections that look like we’re going to need an infusion of some type of money just to keep our pavements serviceable,” Brunkhorst told members of the Marshall Area Transportation Group.

Brunkhorst met with MATG members on Thursday to talk about highway conditions and planned MnDOT projects. MnDOT District 8 representatives also talked about their Capital Highway Investment Plan for the next 10 years.

MnDOT representatives said they are currently meeting their goals on maintaining pavement in southwest Minnesota. But some roads were projected to deteriorate over the next 10 years.

“We’re trying to get to as many miles as we can,” Brunkhorst said. MnDOT would need to strategize where it does highway projects, while dealing with funding limitations and rising material costs.

During Thursday’s meeting, Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce President Brad Gruhot asked if there were any plans for further expansion of four-lane highway access on Highway 23.

“Obviously around Marshall, north and south, there’s decent access on 23. But what about basically from Green Valley north, and then from Lynd south?” Gruhot said.

“There’s definitely nothing in the 10-year plan for expansion like that,” Brunkhorst said. Expansion projects like Gruhot was asking about would likely need additional funding support from sources like state Corridors of Commerce grants, she said. “To do those expansion-type things, an influx of special funding needs to happen.”

In the next couple of years, planned highway projects in Lyon County and the surrounding area include the completion of Highway 19 reconstruction in the city of Marshall, as well as a couple of bridge replacements on U.S. Highway 59 north of Marshall. Resurfacing of U.S. Highway 14 between Florence and Lake Benton is planned in 2027.

Other planned highway projects in the next 10 years are spread out around Lyon County. The map of plans for the area included resurfacing projects on U.S. Highway 59 south of Marshall in 2030, on Highway 23 south of Marshall in 2032, on Highway 19 between Marshall and Ivanhoe in 2033, and on U.S. Highway 14 between Tracy and Florence in 2034.

While there weren’t plans for projects like expanding four-lane highways in District 8, there are plans to build a J-turn on Highway 23 near Marshall High School. In 2028, construction is planned to start on a new J-turn at the intersection of Highway 23 and Tiger Drive. MnDOT representatives said planning work, like taking traffic counts near the high school, will start this fall.

MnDOT District 8 representatives said they were using two years’ worth of their Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding allocation for the J-turn project. The Capital Highway Investment Plan said the cost of the project would be about $2.2 million.

“That’s a real commitment, and it’s very much appreciated,” said MATG chairman David Sturrock.

The J-turn was one that was recommended to MnDOT by local stakeholders last year, as a way to help prevent crashes at the intersection of Highway 23 and Tiger Drive. Before and after school, the intersection is a high-traffic area, as students and parents try to turn onto or cross the highway.

“We’ve come a long way in a year and a half, and to have the prospect of completion in three years is remarkable,” Sturrock said of the project.

On Thursday, transportation group members expressed support for the J-turn project. At the same time, there are still spots on the Highway 23 corridor in Marshall that pose safety risks, said Eric McVey, plant manager at Archer Daniels Midland in Marshall.

“We also have challenges turning south from (Highway) 19 onto 23,” McVey said. There wasn’t a full stop sign or signal to turn south onto Highway 23, and the lane merging onto the highway wasn’t long enough to be an acceleration lane, he said. “That causes some challenge, especially if my trucks are going south … People just pull in front of them.”