While most state highways in Cottonwood County are currently in good shape, the condition of many roads in the county will deteriorate by 2031.
At Tuesday’s Cottonwood County Commissioners meeting, representatives from the Minnesota Department of Transportation updated the board on current projects in the region, as well as future projects in the county.
Greg Ous and Ronda Allis stated that MnDOT surveys every state and federal highway in the state yearly to determine a Road Quality Index.
In District 7, which covers Southwest Minnesota, most roads currently have an RQI of good, but forecasts based on road use have some stretches falling into fair or poor by 2025 and 2031.
Locally, there are no MnDOT projects slated for 2021. Additionally, two planned projects are likely being pushed back because of the funds needed for a major bridge project in Duluth.
-  A planned improvement of Highway 60 around Mt. Lake will have mainline pavement added to reduce the dip east of the County Road 1 junction. That project was scheduled for 2025, but is being moved to 2028.
-  A major renovation of the Highway 60/71 corridor in Windom, which includes repairing or replacing the Des Moines River bridge, is being moved to 2031, with the bridge done at the same time as the rest of the corridor.
More on this story appears in the Aug. 4 print edition of the Citizen.
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