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Some bridge projects could be pushed to 2022 as materials become hard to find

During the Mower County Board of Commissioners regular meeting, Public Works Director Michael Hanson brought the board up to speed on road and bridge projects in the county. Currently, the only remaining project underway is work on County Road 21 on the west side of Austin, which started Tuesday.

The road currently runs past Mandolin Apartments to the west after a curve south. When the project is completed next year, the road will run straight south of Oakland Avenue West past Mandolin to the east before curving gently to the west, where it will once again connect south near the substation.

“It will make the intersection much better,” Hanson said, adding it has not been an easy project. “It’s one of the more complicated projects I’ve ever been involved with here.”

This project is a joint project with the City of Austin.

While the road projects have progressed well, the bridges slated for replacement have been complicated by difficulty in attaining supplies to fix them.

Instead, Hanson said they have set up a priority list in the event the supply train continues to be disrupted.

“We’re still working with box [culvert] companies to prioritize what we finish this year,” Hanson said. “I do want to warn you that some of these may carry over to next year.”

Hanson also went over some of the projected projects for next year, including much needed repaving of County Road 5 near Lyle and County Road 4 heading east out of Rose Creek.

He also touched on the four bridges that will be replaced over Interstate 90 next year along with bridges out in the county, part of a long-ranging effort to bring county bridges up to date.

“We’re getting down to 20 township bridges left to replace,” Hanson said.