Freeborn County has a few projects planned for the summer, the major one being along County Road 14 in front of Good Samaritan Society from County Road 46 near Armstrong, around the 90-degree curve, in front of Good Samaritan and through to Bridge Avenue.

The County 14 project will cost roughly $1.77 million.

The project will be ongoing throughout the summer with some traffic disruptions. Freeborn County highway technician Dan Kenison said there will be times when people have to wait for 15 to 20 minutes at the most, and traffic may be rerouted.

County Road 14 will be resurfaced, and the tilling already started. The cold in-place recycling — which grinds up the surface, adds more oil and lays the ground pieces back down on the road — will start in the next few weeks, according to Kenison.

That step has to cure for 1 to 1 1/2 months to allow all the water to seep out. Then the blacktop will be laid. Construction crews will also be regrading the hill by Good Samaritan.

Kenison said the actual roadwork doesn’t take as long as letting each step settle. The blacktop overlay, he said, should happen in late August or early September.

A culvert on County 31, also known as 300th Street, will have a culvert fixed at the intersection with 730th Avenue, which will close the road for a few weeks during construction. The pipe goes through the intersection at a 45-degree angle, Kenison said.

The contractors have until Aug. 15 to start the project, and from there they have 10 days to complete the work. The fix will cost $100,000.

Four roads throughout the county will be seal coated this summer, but the contractor has a two-month window to get started, Kenison said, so he doesn’t know when the work will happen.

County Road 45 from Albert Lea to Geneva, county roads 24 and 31 in Clarks Grove and County Road 51 in Alden will get seal coats. The project total is $226,000.

Various maintenance overlays are going on all over the county through the summer, Kenison said, adding there are too many to count. Roughly a quarter of the work will be done at the Freeborn County Fairgrounds. These projects should not disrupt traffic and will cost $140,000.

A township bridge southwest of Hayward could be replaced, according to Kenison. Work could start late in the year, but he said funding is holding up the process.

The bridge, on the curve where 800th Avenue and 200th Street meet, should be reduced to one lane, Kenison said, because of problems underneath — none of which would cause the bridge to collapse.

The county is still waiting for work on a few bridges, Kenison said, that is being delayed by funding and easement issues. Main Street in Hollandale is also a tentative project waiting for proper funding.

Throughout the summer maintenance crews will be doing culvert work, cleaning ditches, laying gravel and repairing frost boils on gravel roads. Kenison said the frost boils — black spots on gravel roads — are some of the worst he has seen in 10 years due to the normal winter the area experienced.

Through the summer, with all the construction going on, Kenison advises drivers slow down in work zones and pay attention to their driving.