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Brown County Browser: Use caution in road construction areas

It looks like spring is finally here with the warmer weather. Road construction has already started on the Gateway Project (TH 14/15) in New Ulm. This project will take two years to complete. Several more State and County projects are planned for this construction season. The State will be working on TH 14 in Sleepy Eye and between Sleepy Eye and New Ulm. The State and County are working together to build a roundabout at the intersection of CSAH 29 and TH 4 north of Sleepy Eye that has seen many bad crashes.

The County has surface rehabilitation projects on 18 miles on CSAH 6, 11, 13 and 20 west of Hanska planned for June and July. There is more surface work in Springfield on CSAH 4 (Range Road) and CSAH 5 (East End Avenue) scheduled for July and August. A small bridge replacement on CSAH 20 north of Hanska and a small bridge replacement on 250th Street in Prairieville Township north of Cobden are being bid for fall.

Some of these projects will have detours, some will allow local traffic only and some will be constructed under traffic. For your safety and the construction workers safety be observant and pay attention to warning signs and flagmen. Remember, “Local Traffic Only” means you live on the road being worked on or the place you work is located on the road but does not mean you can drive through the construction project to go to work. Construction zones are a dangerous place. Every year highway workers and people from the traveling public get hurt in work zones. Road construction is a big inconvenience for the traveling public but necessary to have nice roads to drive on.

Brown County maintenance crews are out crack sealing highways and cleaning up sand from the winter. One of the major maintenance operations this summer is the seal coating of 30 miles of highway. When a road has its cracks sealed and the surface seal coated it will last longer. These maintenance processes help prevent water from getting into the pavement. This maintenance work will delay expensive overlays of the surface. Maintenance will be patching blacktop roads, hauling gravel on gravel roads, spraying weeds in the right of way, mowing the right of way and other maintenance repairs. Many of these operations require a temporary lane closure. Be attentive and obey warning signs and flagmen.

Road side safety does not apply to just crews in construction zones. Be careful if you are out alongside the highway walking, running, biking or performing ditch cleanup for your Adopt-A-Highway segment. Wear bright colored or reflectorized clothing to make sure people can see you.

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