Massive equipment crawled over a portion of the future route of the four-lane Highway 14 south of Claremont in mid-May. Crews are doing grading work west of Claremont and are building a bridge on Dodge County Road 1 for an overpass of new Hwy 14 as well as building a new 630th Street. Farmers who use these roads to access fields along this area should contact Jim Hannaman of Shafer Contracting at 612-703-0304 to arrange the best route for their equipment, explained the Minnesota Department of Transportation District 6 spokesman, Mike Dougherty.

The primary contractor on the project is Shafer Contracting of Shafer, MN. The project cost is about $108 million and traffic should be able to use the new route later in 2021. The completion date is 2022.

When done, the four-lane stretch will replace the two-lane portion of Highway 14 between Owatonna and Dodge Center. Information about current detours, a map of the project, and a more detailed schedule are available at www.dot.state.mn.us/d6/projects/hwy14/.