File photo by Fritz Busch This map of the 12.5-mile construction corridor of U.S. Highway 14 was displayed at an open house in Courtland earlier this month hosted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

MANKATO — The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is advising motorists who travel U.S. Highway 14 between New Ulm to Nicollet they can expect a detour beginning Monday, April 11, weather permitting.

Crews will begin construction on the 12.5-mile corridor in two weeks, MnDOT announced Monday in a press release. The detour will remain in place until the completion of the project in October 2023.

Through traffic will be detoured onto Highways 15, 68 and 169 for the duration of the project. Detour routes and access points for local traffic are expected to change throughout different stages of construction.

Detour maps can be found online at: dot.state. mn.us/d7/projects/14newulmtonmankato/.

The project is expanding 12.5 miles of Highway 14 from two lanes to four lanes between New Ulm and Nicollet to complete a continuous four-lane road between New Ulm and Rochester.

Improvements will include:

• Converting the existing two-lane highway to a four-lane divided highway

• Bypassing Courtland by realigning Hwy 14 north of the city

• Constructing new interchanges in Courtland and at Co. Rd. 37 in New Ulm

• Constructing safer intersections at New Ulm Quartzite Quarries and Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School

• Adding turn lanes

• Installing snow fence between Courtland and Nicollet to prevent excessive blowing and drifting snow.

Hoffman Construction of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, was awarded the project with a bid of $83,539,141.56.

• Project information, detour maps, weekly construction updates and a one-minute video to view the planned improved changes can be found online at: dot.state.mn.

• Interested residents can stay connected by signing up for email or text message updates throughout the project’s construction.

• Information will be shared on the MnDOT|South Central Minnesota Facebook group and the MnDOT District 7 Twitter account.

• For updated road condition information, call 511 or visit 511mn.org.