Several Rock County road improvement projects are planned in 2021, according to Highway Engineer Mark Sehr.
Also possible are more bridge replacements, the number of which is dependent on state funding.
Sehr estimates $3.3 million will be spent this year improving roads. He will present more details in his annual road and bridge report at the commissioners’ Feb. 16 meeting.
At their Feb. 2 meeting, commissioners approved the advertising for bids to improve county roads in Battle Plain and Luverne/Beaver Creek townships.
Sehr anticipates state notification next month whether any of the dozen deficient bridges still on his list will receive replacement funding.
He said he’s made bridge replacement a priority and regularly submitted annual funding requests for the state’s first-come, first-served allocations.
“When I first came here in 1996, we had 130 deficient bridges,” he said. “The goal was to get to a manageable number.”
This year’s road improvement projects total about 16 miles of roadway.
The road improvement list includes:
•County Roads 3 and 7, five miles, full-depth reclamation and paving north and west of Kenneth in Battle Plain Township.
•County Road 2, mill and overlay from County Road 7 to the north three miles.
•County Road 5 (Dodge Street), seven miles, mill and overlay from Hwy. 75 west to County Road 6.
•County Road 9, one mile, full depth reclamation from Kenneth east to the Nobles County line.
Sehr said curb and gutter work along Main Street Luverne will continue this year. The work prepares the street for a planned mill and overlay in 2022.
The 2022 road project includes 7 miles of County Road 4 from Luverne, through Magnolia to the Nobles County line.
Road improvements are also earmarked for Blue Mound Avenue in 2022.