MnDOT brings 10-year plan to County Board
Ronda Allis, Principal Planner with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) District 7 office in Mankato, presented MnDOT's 10-year work plan to the Le Sueur County Board at their July 26 meeting held in Le Center.
The MnDOT District 7 reaches from the eastern Le Sueur County border to the South Dakota border, including Le Sueur, Waseca, Sibley, Nicollet, Blue Earth, Faribault, Martin, Watonwan, Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson, Nobels and Rock Counties.
A local project still on the 2016 MnDOT schedule is a spot improvement project for Hwy. 13, south of Hwy. 99. The estimated cost of the project is $ .5 million.
Looking forward from 2017 through 2026, MnDOT has included the following projects that will impact travel in eastern Le Sueur County.
2018: Hwy. 19 - Installation of center left turn lane, east of New Prague
2019: Hwy 99 - Bridge replacement at St. Peter and mill and overlay work from St. Peter to Le Center, and from Hwy. 13 to Hwy. 21
2020: Hwy. 19 - Urban reconstruction from 4th Avenue NW to 7th Avenue SE in New Prague
Hwy. 60 - Mill and overlay work from south of Madison Lake to west of Waterville
2023: Hwy. 13 - Road and bridge work from Hwy. 60 in Waterville to south of Montgomery
Hwy. 21 - From Hwy. 13 east to County Rd. 137
2024: Hwy. 19 - Road and bridge work from Henderson to New Prague
2025: Hwy. 13 - road and bridge work from Waterville to Waseca
2026: Hwy. 60 - from Hwy. 13 east to county line
Hwy. 13 - from Montgomery to New Prague
Allis reminded the Board that the project maps change all the time. "Things move around in our programs," she said.
Allis provided an overview on how projects are selected and scheduled. She also shared a graph indicating that by 2019, District 7 is predicted to have the highest percentage in the state of all non-National Highway System roadway miles with a "Poor" Ride Quality Index (RQI). The numbers indicate that 28.4 percent, of roadway miles other than Interstate and U. S. highways, will provide a poor ride quality. Le Sueur County Administrator, Darrell Pettis, reiterated, saying that more than one of every four miles will be a poor quality, bumpy ride. The 28.4 percent RQI for District 7 is nearly double that of MnDOT District 1 and the Metro District and nearly triple the District 6 and the statewide average RQI.
Allis told the Board that funding has been pulled to new projects, such as Hwy 14, instead of going to general road maintenance. The state roadways are approaching a maintenance shortage of $900 million per year.
