BLUE EARTH – On Tuesday, the Faribault County Board of Commissioners received an update from the Minnesota Department of Transportation concerning the county’s roadways.

Greg Ous, transportation district engineer for district 7, gave the board an update of the condition of the roads in district 7, as well as future projections and projects.

District 7 covers Faribault County and Martin County, as well as Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Nobles, Rock, Sibley, Waseca and Watonwan. The district has a total of 1,326 miles of highway, 146 miles of interstate and 476 bridges, according to a MnDOT fact sheet.

MnDOT categorizes the condition of pavement on roadways by the percent of miles that are in poor condition. The goal for non-National Highway System roadways, said Ous, is to have the poor miles be under 10 percent. Roadways with over 60 percent of strong pavement, on the other hand, are considered “good” roads.

“We want to keep our poor percent low and our good percent higher than what the numbers are,” said Ous.

While district 7 was under the target of 10 percent of roadway miles in poor condition in 2015, this has now risen to about 19 percent in 2017, and is projected to reach 28 percent in 2019. In comparison, the state as a whole is currently at about six percent.

According to Ous, district 7 is currently the worst district in the state when it comes to poor roads.

“Our roads are accelerating into poor at a quicker rate than we can stay ahead of it,” said Ous.

Previously, the pavement strategy for district 7 was to invest and maintain the roads that were categorized as good, and to fix the poor roads when only when extra funding became available.

“We just kind of manage those poor roads with the bit of hope that more dollars will become available,” said Ous. “When you get into poor, that’s when you have to do a more substantial repair.”

However, based on the amount of poor roads in district 7, MnDOT will now be looking at a new strategy, which involves addressing roads with the greatest needs and with the worst conditions through long-term pavement maintenance.

With this strategy in mind, Ous laid out a number of project for the counties in district 7 from 2018-2027.

In Faribault County specifically, the stretch of Highway 109 from Wells to Alden and Highway 169 from one mile north of I-90 to Winnebago will be the focus for 2018. In 2022, Highway 253 and 254 will be the focus.

With this new strategy and future projects, the percent of roadway miles in poor condition is projected to decrease to about 16 percent in 2028.

“Now it’s up to us to do the best we can to make those resources go as long as they can,” said Ous.