Signs will be posted beginning March 25 to alert motorists about the upcoming work.
Motorists on Dodge County Road 1 and 630th Street will find detours south of Claremont and should follow signs to access their destinations. Crews are beginning to build a bridge on Dodge County 1 for an overpass of new Hwy 14 and building a new 630th Street. Grading work west of Claremont is also expected to begin.
MnDOT had originally scheduled an open house in April to kick off construction starting, but all public meetings and project open houses have been postponed statewide to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
Public engagement on transportation and construction projects remains a top priority for MnDOT. Alternatives are being explored by MnDOT to allow for participation, such as virtual or remote options to ensure participation. MnDOT will provide additional updates as they become available.
The project will expand 12.5 miles of Hwy 14 from two lanes to four lanes between Dodge Center and Owatonna to complete a continuous four-lane road between Mankato and Rochester. The project is intended to improve the capacity, safety, travel times and access between Rochester and Owatonna, as well as the I-35 corridor. The expansion area is a new route for Hwy 14, which will stay south of the railroad tracks on the west side of the project, travel south of Claremont and connect where the four-lane highway is west of Dodge Center Shafer Contracting of Shafer, Minn., is the prime contractor for the $107,997,119 construction project.
Construction will is scheduled to be completed by 2022. Traffic on the new Hwy 14 route is expected in 2021.
To learn more about the Hwy 14 project and sign up for email updates, go to www.dot.state.mn.us/d6/projects/hwy14/ or join the MnDOT Southeast Minnesota Facebook group for news, information and events in the region: www.facebook.com/groups/MnDOTsoutheast/. For updated road condition information, call 511 or visit www.511mn.org.