West Gap to take two years; Mathiowetz in second month of work
1973.
Once the target year for Minnesota State Highway 60 to be completed as an upgraded four-lane highway stretching from Worthington to Mankato, with Highway 169 taking over so that four lanes of traffic – two eastbound, two westbound – that would take travelers along this major corridor from southwestern Minnesota to the Twin Cities.
That plan missed its mark by 43 years.
However, on Monday, April 17, those dreams started to become realized as construction began on the final “60” segment – the West Gap between Mountain Lake and Windom. By 2018 (approximately 18 months), there will be that unbroken stretch of four-lane highway connecting the Twin Cities to Sioux City, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska via Highway 169 and Highway 60.
Work by Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye on the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) project will include grading work for 8½ miles of new lanes north of the current two-lane highway. After a break for winter starting in November, work will resume in spring 2018 when the new westbound lanes will be paved with concrete.
Two-way traffic will then be diverted to the new lanes while the existing two-lane highway receives new shoulders and asphalt. The exiting highway will become the eastbound lanes of the new four-lane when it opens in October 2018. NO DETOURS will be required during either year of construction.
Additional features of project work will include:
+ Shoulder restrictions for culvert replacement just west of Bingham Lake.
+ During both 2017 and 2018, roads intersecting with the new Highway 60 lanes will experience closures on varying dates. Additionally, project work will restrict maximum lane width to 10 feet during construction.
+ In spring 2018, 510th Street will be closed for about two weeks for realignment, with the timing of that closure and work coordinated with POET.
+ Intersection lighting upgrades will be completed at three intersections and removed at two intersections (Cottonwood County Roads 46 and 47) due to county policy.
+ Highway design at Clear Lake between Bingham Lake and Windom will be done in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
+ Highway ditches and medians will be planted with native prairie grasses.
+ Highway is being designed to help mitigate blowing snow.
+ Snow fences are a potential addition to the project (cost dependent).
The gap from Mountain Lake to Windom (2017-2018, at a cost of $26.5 million) follows four-lane expansion projects from Bigelow through Worthington to Interstate 90 (2010-2013, $67 million), St. James to Butterfield (2013-2014, 6 miles, $16.6 million), and Butterfield to Mountain Lake (2015, 5 miles, $13 million.)
Four lanes made it from Lake Crystal to St. James in 1980, and from Worthington to Windom 1997. St. James to Butterfield was completed in 2014, with the four-lane heading west to Mountain Lake in 2015 – leaving in 2017 just a little more than eight miles of two-lane yet to be converted to four through westbound lane construction.
The Highway 60 Action Corporation, made up of cities and counties along the “60” route, was originally organized in 1965 – with the group’s goal of a complete four-lane highway now set to be completed some 53 years later.
