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Posted roads sign of spring

By Lori Ehde
A sure sign of spring is the posting of spring road weight restrictions.

According to Rock County Highway Engineer Mark Sehr, this week marks the beginning of the thaw cycle when restricted weights are most important.

"Spring is a critical period for roads, because the soils and aggregate materials are weak while frost leaves the ground," Sehr said in a statement released by the highway department this week.

During the spring, pavement layers are saturated with trapped water and weakened by thawing base soil.

The weight restrictions apply to all licensed vehicles, including semi tractor trailers and grain trucks.

Non-licensed vehicles, mostly vehicles used as "implements of husbandry," are exempt from regulations or weight limits.

According to Sehr, grain carts, gravity-flow grain wagons and manure "honey wagons" tend to be the biggest culprits for local county roads.

This is because the weight is distributed on only one or two axles, while many commercial vehicles, such as semis, distribute the weight over several axles.

In general, Sehr said most drivers respect the weight restrictions. "Ninety-eight percent are good about it, but it only takes one or two bad ones to damage a road," he said.

Minnesota State Patrol officers carry scales with them to periodically check for overweight vehicles.

In Minnesota, about 97 percent of county roads are subject to spring load restrictions, which can extend their life by about 10 percent.

The time frame for spring load restriction - always eight weeks - is determined by the Minnesota Department of Transportation .

The start date is determined by a thawing index and a three-day forecast.

Road crews have started repairing frost heaves on county gravel roads, but so far Sehr said local hard-surface roads haven't started showing damage from spring thaw.

Road construction slated for this year:
Major county road construction projects this year will include Lincoln Street in Luverne and County Road 2 in the northern part of the county.

Both roads will be totally reconstructed.

Lincoln Street (a county highway) will be reconstructed from Cedar Street east to Blue Mound Avenue.

County Road 2 work will be from County Road 7 (the east-west Hardwick road) north almost to Edgerton.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will work on Highway 75 from Luverne south to the Iowa border.

In addition, Rock County is planning to overlay 17 miles of road. This includes:
oCounty Road 6 (the north-south road between Hills and Beaver Creek) from County Road 4 (Old Highway 16) south to Hills.

oCounty Road 5 (which enters Luverne from the west by the bus garages), from Highway 23 west to the South Dakota border.

oCounty Road 7 (east-west road through Hardwick) from Highway 75 west to the South Dakota border.

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