Highway 75 to close in Luverne for one month

Six blocks of Highway 75 in Luverne will be closed between Main Street and Dodge Street for a sewer lining project starting Oct. 17.
The monthlong infrastructure work includes sewer lining, spot repairs, installing new manholes and replacing water service lines beneath the highway by direction boring new service lines.
The 2022 sewer and utility improvements are related to the 2025 Minnesota Department of Transportation mill-off and overlay of North Highway 75 from Main Street to the North city limits. 
City officials looked at the infrastructure in the Highway 75 right of way and determined there is underground infrastructure that needs to be replaced ahead of the state’s upcoming road resurfacing.
The idea was to do the underground work this summer so that that the newly asphalted road wouldn’t have to be dug up for utility repairs in the near future.
The work was postponed this summer for several reasons, according to City Administrator John Call.
The route needed to be open to haul materials for major construction projects in the area, such as the Lineage Logistics warehouse, Walleye Wind Farm and resurfacing Main Street and Blue Mound Avenue.
Also, there were additional community events, such as the school reunion, that affected visitor traffic on Main Street and Highway 75.
Call said on Tuesday that there was finally a window to complete the work this fall and the contractor indicated work could be done in October.
In an Oct. 4 memo to the council, city engineer Gary Kurth of DGR welcomed the fall work.
“There will be some extra cost due to the delays, increase in price of materials since the spring and additional traffic control,” he said. “If we waited until spring of 2023, the additional costs will be higher.”
Hulstein Excavation of Edgerton was awarded the contract in February after submitting the low bid of $567,000, including alternates.
The city is using the federal funding in the American Rescue Plan to pay for the project.