Brown County Commissioners receive annual MnDOT update
Most roadwork in Mankato over next two years
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NEW ULM - Brown County is not expected to see any major MnDOT projects over the next years.
Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) district engineer Zack Tess and MnDOT district planning director Samuel Parker provided an annual road system update for the Brown County Commissioners Tuesday.
The annual update included an overview for the MnDOT District 7, which includes Brown County. The district covers 13 counties across south central and southwest Minnesota.
Parker said the district has a total population of 290,000 people. In terms of roads, District 7 has over 3,200 lane miles of roads, 475 bridges and over 9,700 culverts.
Parker said in 2026, there were $68 million of project delivered across the district this year. No capital construction projects were completed in Brown County this year, but two roundabout projects were started in Nicollet County.
North of New Ulm on Highway 15, a roundabout project was completed at Klossner on July 31. Another roundabout project was started north of Nicollet on Highway 111 and is expected to be completed in October.
Parker said these roundabouts were made available through $6.2 million grants from the legislators. The two intersections were deemed as high risk with reoccurring crashes.
Looking to the next four years, no major MnDOT projects are planned for the Brown County area, but a capital project is planned for US 169 in Mankato/North Mankato in 2027.
Parker said the section of US 169 between Belgrade Avenue and Highway 14 will closed for construction in 2027. A detour will be on Lookout Drive.
According to MnDOT's 10 year highway investment plan, Highway 68 between Mankato and New Ulm will be repaved in 2031. This is considered a high priority project, but is subject to change.
The same 10-year plan has a repaving project scheduled for 2036 on Broadway in New Ulm from Center Street to 7th North. However, this project is still in the early planning stage.