Culvert replacements dominate 2014 highway projects

A lot of culverts, is how Dave Halbersma, Pipestone County highway engineer, described the highway departments plans for 2014 during Pipestone Countys annual road and bridge public hearing held to gather input from local units of government and the public.

About 30 people attended the hearing including Pipestone County commissioners, the county administrator and representatives from the countys cities and townships.

Three people asked questions during the meeting regarding the county Highway 267 (cemetery road) project, wear on roads used as detour routes during the Minnesota Department of Transportations (Mn/DOT) state Highway 75 project last summer, and possible paving of a county road that has heavy traffic due to a nearby dairy.

Halbersma said he would review the areas of concern and discuss them with the county commissioners as the county updates its five-year plan. He said there was no significant wear to the roads used for the Hwy. 75 detour last summer, but that they would be reviewed again this year.

Halbersma reviewed the existing five-year plan that includes projects planned up through 2017.

Tentative construction plans for this summer are expected to cost around $4.5 million and include 16 box culverts or bridge replacements. Halbersma planned to tackle eight of those in conjunction with a CSAH 10 widening project originally planned for this summer. The widening project will likely be delayed until 2015, however, due to appraisals that took longer than anticipated, but the culvert replacements are still planned for this year.

Other culvert and bridge replacements include four on CSAH 6 northwest of Woodstock, L3677 on 160th Avenue northwest of Woodstock, L3671 on 120th Avenue southwest of Holland, L3597 on CSAH 16 in Hatfield and bridge 92469 on 221st Street two miles south of the Lincoln County border west of U.S. Highway 75.

The 2014 plans also include seal coating of about 27.5 miles of road, primarily in the southern portion of the county, reconstruction of .1 miles of County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 19 near Ruthton, and reconstruction of .75 miles and the addition of a bike path on the cemetery road northwest of Pipestone.

Cemetery road project

The cemetery road project will widen the road from 22-to 24-feet, add curb and gutter on the east side and add a 10-foot wide biking path from CSAH 15 north to the Wildlife Management Area parking lot, using a $500,000 state park road fund grant received last year. Halbersma said the county is still waiting for approval of the project from Pipestone National Monument, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) before advertising for bids.

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Culvert replacements dominate 2014 highway projects