O’Brien County, Iowa — It’s not the time of year for road construction, but it is the time to plan construction projects for next year. And there’s going to be a project on Highway 59 in the Sanborn and Primghar area this coming construction season.
We had a chance to visit with Iowa Department of Transportation District Transportation Planner Dakin Schultz, who tells us what they’ve got in mind.
Schultz says they’ll do some rehab work on the road in Primghar too, but it’ll be a different kind of work, called diamond-grinding and patching.
He tells us about the impact to traffic.
Schultz tells us about the timeline for the project.
According to Schultz, the program estimate for the project is just shy of $7.4 million for the roughly 14-mile project. He says bid-letting for the project will happen next week, and they’ll have a much better idea of the cost of the project once they accept a bid and award the project to a contractor.
Schultz tells us that the DOT is also planning on removing the bridge south of Primghar in 2021. The bridge goes over the old railroad right-of-way, which has been converted to the Sneaker’s Run Trail. He says the bridge will be replaced with a box culvert tunnel, through which bicyclists and pedestrians can go under the road. At this time they are still working out some details on that project, says Schultz.
