The Minnesota Highway 23 Gaps project enters its second construction season with a celebration

Shelby Lindrud, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·6 min read

Apr. 28—HAWICK

— While traveling on

Minnesota Highway 23

between

Willmar

and St. Cloud the next several months will require a few extra minutes and a bit of patience, by the end of the construction season one of the gap projects will be completed, with a second well on its way to the finish line.

The start of construction for the South Gap portion of the

Highway 23 Gaps project

was celebrated Friday with a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Roseville Township Hall in Hawick.

The project will see the seven miles of two-lane highway from just north of Kandiyohi County Road 31 near New London to just east of Kandiyohi County Road 6 near Paynesville expanded to four lanes. It will join the ongoing North Gap project, now in its second year of construction, in creating a continuous four-lane corridor from the east side of Paynesville to Stearns County Road 43 east of Richmond.

"It is an important day. It is another historic milestone for this long corridor from I-90 to I-35," said Jon Huseby,

Minnesota Department of Transportation

District 8 Engineer at the groundbreaking.

Once both sections are completed, Minnesota Highway 23 will be four lanes from Willmar to Foley. The goals of the project are to increase the mobility along the corridor, improvement safety and encourage and support economic growth in the communities and area surrounding the improved highway.

"In many ways a highway, particularly this highway, is the underpinning of the region's economy and quality of life," Huseby said.

The journey to see the gaps filled was long and twisting. It took years of advocacy, meetings, planning and multiple parties and organizations working together in partnership to make it all happen. The Highway 23 Coalition has been at the front of march to get funding and push the project toward completion. It also wouldn't have been possible without MnDOT — both the state office and those in District 8 and 3 — along with all the cities, townships and counties along the route.

Then, of course, there is the famous

2018 Governor's Fishing Opener

, where guide Kelly Morrell was able to get a boatload of lawmakers — including then-Governor Mark Dayton — to agree to the $105 million in Corridors for Commerce funding for the two gap projects.

"This is not a one-person team. This is all of us working together," said Jeff Bertram, Highway 23 Coalition chair and Stearns County commissioner.

The groundbreaking for the South Gap was attended by many of those partners — from local, county and state lawmakers, MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger, Chuck Ackman from the Office of Senator Amy Klobuchar, staff from MnDOT and representatives from Mathiowetz Construction, the contractor for both the North and South Gap projects. Getting special mention was the

late Bob Dols

who worked for years to see a complete four-lane Highway 23 through the region.

"Bob Dols is the kind of guy who had inspired us 20 years ago and he never gave up until the day he died," said State Representative Dave Baker, R-Willmar. "This was a vision of his, and this is largely because of Bob Dols."

Work will begin on both gaps on Monday.

The largest section of the South Gap project, from Hawick to Paynesville should be mostly completed by the end of this construction season, said Alan Setrum, MnDOT construction project supervisor of the South Gap, in an interview with the West Central Tribune on Tuesday. The portion between New London and Hawick will take two construction seasons to complete, but will be done under traffic, without the need of a detour.

In addition to grading and paving the new roads, crews will also need to put in a temporary culvert where the highway currently crosses Long Lake. The temporary culvert will divert the flow from the lake while work is done on the new permanent alignment of the road. A new culvert will be installed at the finished crossing.

"If weather is good, we will hit the ground running," Setrum said.

Construction began on the North Gap in spring 2022, but while the crews were able to complete most of the grading, there is still a lot of work left to be done. There is still grading to be done, gravel to be hauled and various box culverts and drainage pipe to be installed.

"We've got a lot of paving to do," said Micheal Klasen, North Gap construction project manager with MnDOT, in an interview with the West Central Tribune on Tuesday. "We've basically got one lane paved all the way through, that we have traffic on right now."

There will be

major detours

involved for both projects.

Traffic will be directed off of the South Gap work zone starting May 1, using Kandiyohi County Road 2 and Minnesota Highway 55. The detour will be in place until the end of October.

The main detour for the North Gap project, which uses Stearns County Roads 33, 32 and 12 to take traffic around the work zone, goes from May 15 to the end of October. There will also be a short, two-week detour starting May 1 of Stearns County Road 12, west of Richmond, to allow crews to complete the intersections for the new Highway 23.

While drivers might be tempted to try and find shorter detours using township roads or even try to drive through the work zone, Klasen and Setrum advise against it.

"Follow the detour, you will get through faster," Setrum said.

Both projects are being built by Mathowietz Construction, and Klasen has been very pleased with their work.

"This is a good contractor," Klasen said. "They are probably one of the best contractors to work with in the Midwest. They are efficient and they work well. They've got good guys working for them."

Brian and Chad Mathowietz attended the groundbreaking on Friday and stated they would be leading safe and efficiently-run projects. They were honored to be the contractor chosen.

"Our culture is to do it right. Forward thinking is what makes us groundbreaking," said Brian Mathowietz on Friday.

Closing the two gaps on Highway 23 will provide many benefits, not just for the local area, but the larger region and the state as a whole.

"It is a corridor that is moving freight, really moving commerce," Huseby said.

It's not just about the economics. There is also the people. Highway 23 is used every day by people going to and from work, home, school and recreation. A four-lane highway will hopefully make the corridor safer for all and reduce the chance of tragic crashes that take and change lives forever.

"Yes we know it is a corridor of commerce, but it is also a corridor of kids and education," and everyone else who travels along the highway, said Joe Perske, Stearns County commissioner.

MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger thought it was so important to take part in the groundbreaking Friday afternoon she drove more than three hours from an event in Rochester to attend. She was honored to attend the event, just as she went to the North Gap event last spring. She thanked everyone who had a hand in making the projects possible, and thanked all those who will be traveling along Highway 23 this summer for their patience as construction continues.

"All of us at MnDOT are just honored and privileged by your commitment to infrastructure and road improvements and how they contribute to the quality of life for all those rural communities and those who are traveling across our state," Daubenberg said. "We are just as invested and excited as you are to continue the journey with the South Gap."