Upcoming MnDOT projects planned for Kasson, Mantorville, Byron

The completion of the 12.5-mile stretch of Highway 14 between Owatonna and Dodge Center is not the only road project that will be affecting the area in coming years.
Delayed by a year because of the pandemic, reconstruction of Highway 57 in Kasson is scheduled to begin in 2022. The work will continue in Mantorville in 2023. Work on Hwy 14 from Byron to Rochester is also scheduled for 2022.
Plans for Hwy 57 include the reconstruction of the highway from Veterans Memorial Highway (Dodge County Road 34) to 11th Street. The work will include a complete reconstruction of the roadway to make for better pavement conditions, officials said, and will also make safety improvements at several intersections by constructing roundabouts.
Roundabouts are planned at the intersection of Hwy 57 and County Road 34 and Hwy 57 and Main Street.
Cost of the Kasson project is $5,843,000.
The Mantorville reconstruction of Hwy 57 project is expected to begin the summer of 2023 and will include a stretch of road from the South Branch Middle Fork Zumbro Bridge to 9th Street in Mantorville.
It will include reconstruction of the roadway base and a new driving surface as well as replacement of storm water pipes and an upgrade to pedestrian and bike facilities.
Cost for the project is $3,100,000.
On Hwy 14, MnDOT is evaluating three intersections between Byron and Rochester
The plan includes a Reduced Conflict Intersection (RCI) at the intersection of Olmsted County Road 3 in Byron.
MnDOT engineers say that RCI’s are intersection designs that decrease fatalities and injuries caused by broadside crashes on four-lane divided highways. With RCI’s drivers only have to be concerned with one direction of traffic on the highway at a time and do not need to wait for a gap in both directions to cross the highway. Instead, drivers always make a right turn onto the highway followed by a left U-turn.
In addition to the work at the intersection with County Road 3, Olmsted Country Road 44 is being evaluated for improvements that could be a modified RCI or a complete median closure. The recommendation for the 7th Street NW intersection median in Rochester is for median to be closed.
Contract letting for the Byron to Rochester project is scheduled for May 27, 2022 with construction expected from August to late-October 2022.
The Olmsted County project is estimated to cost $1.2 million.
MnDOT’s only current construction project in Dodge County is the construction of the new Hwy 14 roadway between Owatonna and Dodge Center.
Construction began last summer with the new roadway scheduled to open to traffic in November of this year. Final completion of the project is anticipated for the 2022 construction season.
Most of the work on the project is taking place along the new roadway so traffic on the current Hwy 14 will be minimally impacted except at the connections of the new road to the current highway just east of Owatonna and in Dodge County at Hwy 56 south.
The Owatonna to Dodge Center project has a cost of $107,997,119.