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Folks travelling from Cottage Grove south through Hastings toward Red Wing and beyond have been experiencing a bit of an inconvenience with the way Hwy. 316 has been detoured because of the construction planned by the Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, those plans have hit a bit of a roadblock.

Inspectors were out surveying the site when the size of the planned drainpipes were questioned. The pipes they planned to use for moving storm waters were looked at and discovered to be the too small for the scope of the project.

State Representative Tony Jurgens gave a brief update, “They’re reworking some of the plans on the size of the drainage pipes so, I am assuming that means they are looking at the amount of land that was draining into these pipes and they determined that it wasn’t sufficient and so they are re-working that. Until they can get that figured out, work has essentially stopped. They are still trying to get some work done where they are able too. They don’t know yet if there is going to be a change to the completion date of the project, or the anticipated completion date, they are still working that out. The good news is, there really hasn’t been any weather delays.”

MNDOT is continuing where possible to avoid delays, but there are no guarantees with that. It all depends on how fast they can re-work the engineering and then how fast new materials can be obtained. Thankfully, they do plan in a number of weather days to allow for rainouts, and the dry weather has helped avoid using those.

According to an email from Kirsten Klein with MNDOT, “As for delays, the project isn’t scheduled to be complete until mid-October. There were not set interim dates per stage, so it is unclear what or if there is a delay at this time.”

Keep your fingers crossed that work can continue, and that the updated materials are available quickly. Reports from the residents in the area are stating they have not seen work being done on the project for days. Other reports from residents closely following the project are that the MNDOT website originally stated the project was scheduled to end in the first part of October. The site currently states the expected timeline is November of 2021. Neither are good signs for a quick resolution or for completing the project on time.

Klein included a copy of an email sent on June 21st. That email stated: MnDOT recently identified a minor discrepancy in the project design plans. We are working to correct this issue and reorder the appropriate materials to finish this first stage of the project. Construction crews will continue to work on other areas of the project during this time; however, you may see fewer workers on site while we make the necessary corrections and await materials. Thank you for your patience.

Hwy 316 is closed between Malcolm Ave. and Tuttle Dr. Those of you that live on or near Tuttle Dr. on either side of Hwy 316 must follow the signed detour. Those detours are as follows:

• East side of Hwy 316 — use temporary bypass to access Hwy 316 to or from Co. Rd. 91

• West side of Hwy 316 — Martin Ln. to Michael Ave. to access Hwy 316 to or from Co. Rd. 91 Travelers should not enter a road that is closed or marked as private to bypass this closure.

This work is part of a summer- long project on Hwy 316 to add three roundabouts, add medians and pave the road between Michael Ave. to north of Spiral Ave.

Representative Jurgens sent a message around 3:20 p.m. Monday “MNDOT told me this morning the new sewer pipes should be delivered today so work should resume soon. Utility work has continued. No information on project cost change, if any. Also, no new project deadline so mid-October is still the projected completion at this time.”

More on the project can be found at https://www.dot. state.mn.us/metro/projects/ hwy316/index.html