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I-90 work near Fairmont slated for early May

FAIRMONT — With Interstate 90 construction planned this summer, the public was invited to an open house at the Holiday Inn in Fairmont on Wednesday to learn about the details.

The $38.5 million project involves improvements along I-90 from Fairmont to Blue Earth.

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the work will consist of resurfacing traffic lanes, shoulders and ramps with concrete, and repairing and rehabilitating bridges.

It also will tackle drainage by cleaning, repairing or replacing pipes and culverts, and include some added interchange lighting.

No detour for I-90 traffic is expected, but westbound and eastbound traffic will be reduced to a single lane in a head-to-head configuration.

Dan Swanson, a MnDOT project engineer said the project will last two years.

“They’re doing the westbound portion first in 2019, then they’ll do the eastbound in 2020,” he said.

“Things will start, tentatively, in early May. We’ll start to see single-lane traffic in coming weeks, then it will be head-to-head for the majority thereafter. Highway 15 in Fairmont is only going to be closed for three weeks each year, so they’re painting a temporary crossover so people can cross when they’re working on the other side.

“So Fairmont will be open for most of it. 260th Avenue and 320th Avenue will be closed, it will be westbound on and off ramp [for the first year] and eastbound closed on year two because the whole thing is kind of shut down on that side. They’re doing every other bridge too, so if you live locally between Fairmont and Blue Earth, so when one bridge is closed the other will be open and the next year it will switch.”

Originally slated for mid-April, the project was delayed due the weather and spring load restrictions.

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