If you look around New Ulm these days, you’ll notice a lot of building and construction going on. The Gateway Project is in its second year of reconstructing the Highway 14-15 intersection and the bridge across the Minnesota Rover on 7th North St. Alliance Bank is preparing the corner at 3rd North and Minnesota for construction of a new bank building that will be ready by next year. The Emerson Union project is turning the former New Ulm Middle School into apartments. Work is ongoing at the industrial park on the west end of town on new homes for DLC Manufacturing and Fabricating, and for Windings, Inc. Johnson Park’s baseball field will be inactive this coming summer while construction begins on improvements that will be unveiled next year in time to host the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament.

These are projects that will affect New Ulm for years to come. The highway project will, hopefully, be followed by the expansion of Highway 14 between Nicollet and New Ulm in the not too distant future. The current Alliance bank building was built 50 years ago, so the new one should be around at least that long. Emerson Union will provide some much-needed housing in New Ulm, and the industrial park projects will provide better facilities and hopefully lead to growth. Johnson Park’s improvements will be a treasured jewel of a ball park into the modern era.

There may be a lot of delays, detours and inconveniences this summer, but we will be enjoying the benefits of these projects for years to come.