Section of Highway #60 West Gap gets PCC covering
1973 was 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 – would take travelers along this major corridor from southwestern Minnesota to the Twin Cities.
This past spring, on Monday, April 17, those dreams finally came true as construction began on that ribbon of highway – the final “60” segment – the West Gap between Mountain Lake and Windom. By fall 2018 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.
Proof of that connection can be found in the laying of PCC (Portland Cement Concrete) on a section of what will be the westbound lanes, beginning today (Friday, October 13). Concrete has been placed from in front of PJ’s II in Bingham Lake heading east and will continue to near Mountain Lake. Crews can lay one mile of concrete a day.
This summer’s work by Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye included construction and grading work for the 8½ miles of new lanes north of the current two-lane highway. And today PCi Roads of St. Michael began placing the concrete. The concrete is being produced at a temporary concrete mixing facility located in a lot on the west edge of Mountain Lake’s city limits.
At some point during construction season 2018, two-way traffic will be diverted to the new lanes while the existing two-lane highway receives new shoulders and asphalt. The existing highway will become the eastbound lanes of the new four-lane when it opens in October 2018.
Additional features of project work have – or will – include:
+ During April/May 2017, there will be 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.
