U.S. Highway 14 receives $22 million federal grant to expand, finish six-decade project
After decades of impasses and financial shortcomings, southern Minnesota will finally be able to fix and finish a highway expansion project that has been ongoing for 60 years.
Last week, the state was awarded a $22 million federal grant to finish the expansion of U.S. Highway 14 between New Ulm, Minn., and Nicollet, Minn. The final step of the decades-long expansion involves widening 12.5 miles of highway from a two-lane to a divided four-lane road.
Greg Ous, an engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s south-central district, has been with the agency for 33 years. One of his first projects was working on the U.S. Highway 14 expansion project. Ous said the overall project would mean creating safer roads for commuters, freight loaders and business expansions along the corridor.
“It’s been a large part of my whole career to be following this,” he said. “This really is just tying the bow on all of this effort in order to really complete [it].”
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The Highway 14 corridor has seen 154 crashes within the last decade — three of them fatal in the last two years.
The crash rate around one of its intersections — south of New Ulm near County Road 37 — is more than double the statewide average, with 24 crashes in that past decade, said MnDOT project manager Zak Tess. He said he expects crashes would reduce by 82 percent with the intersection changes that come along with the expansion.
The federal funding to complete the project came through bipartisan efforts in Congress.
“I appreciate the bipartisan cooperation of Gov. Tim Walz, MnDOT Commissioner Margaret Kelliher and all the local legislators and officials who have worked with us to deliver this win for our farmers, small businesses, workers, families and communities in the 1st District,” Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn said in a statement.
Earlier this year, MnDOT applied for a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant that would be used with state funding to complete the corridor, with the total cost of the project estimated between $89 million and $98 million. That funding, which will be paired with state dollars to pay for the project, was approved last Thursday.
Before it can begin construction, MnDOT still needs municipal consent from the city of Courtland, Minn., and plans to have a final design by next fall. From there, construction on the project is expected to start in spring 2022 and finish tentatively by fall 2023.