EAGLES NEST TWP – As motorists bump along the road surface through the Highway 169 safety improvement project between Ely and Tower, Minnesota Department of Transportation District 1 project manager Michael Kalnbach is stressing safety.

“Orange cones, no phones,” Kalnbach told those in attendance at a MnDOT project status update meeting at Eagles Nest Town Hall last week. “Believe it or not, we have had a number of people drive right around the stopped cars and flaggers. The laws in a construction zone pertain to everybody.”

The project has visibly ramped up in the month of May and many construction vehicles are competing with the through traffic for the existing narrow roadway in the corridor.

“We are just five-percent complete with the project in dollar value,” Kalnbach said. “The $16 million project is right on schedule.” About six miles of roadway in the Eagles Nest area of the state highway will be improved with straightened curves, leveled hills and wider shoulders by the end of the 2018 construction season.

MnDot officials say the project will: improve sight lines and passing safety; provide safer pull-off areas; improve ditching and drainage; and minimize wetland impacts and rock excavation. The project calls for complete reconstruction in segments on the west side of the construction zone that will be realigned, while other portions of the project route on the east end will be widened and resurfaced.

Kalnbach said about 30 percent of the rock blasting has been completed. “That’s about 46,000 cubic yards,” he said. “The good news is that we have located the sulfide in the areas and levels that we expected. Two groundwater monitoring wells were put in place on May 13.”

Ongoing construction activities include grading, aggregate crushing, bituminous manufacturing, haul-in of lime for sulfide mitigation, and blasting at least once or twice a day. “Between now and June 14, drivers can expect delays of several minutes for deep culvert construction,” Kalnbach said.

Construction activity runs from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Mondays and as early as 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Temporary driving surfaces should be ready to go by the middle of June. “These paved surfaces will allow us to maintain thru traffic in the construction zone,” he said. “We have short delays now as trucks and equipment move through the area. Drivers can expect longer delays as the project moves along.” No detours are expected.

The next update meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 22 at Eagles Nest Town Hall.

More information on the project can be found on the MnDOT website: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/Hwy169eagles/index.html.