Highway 65 bridge open in Hampton

After a summer of detours, one bridge in Hampton is finally open to local traffic. Though the barricades haven’t been completely removed, as the road isn’t yet entirely open to thru traffic, the south bridge on Highway 65 is cleared and ready to drive across.

It is the first of several road projects to be complete on Highway 65 this summer.

“Things have been going well. Everything is on schedule so we’re pretty happy about that,” said Department of Transportation Field Services Coordinator Pete Hjelmstad. “The north bridge should be open and complete the week of October 19.”

Normally the easiest way to drive from Hampton to Mason City, Highway 65 has been blocked by numerous bridge repairs over the summer. Not only have two projects in Hampton blocked the road, but two other projects near Rockwell have also forced commuters into detours.

Hjelmstad says that it won’t be long before the road is completely open again. The Hampton projects will be wrapping up this in the next couple weeks while the Rockwell projects are on schedule to finish in mid-November.

“We thank everybody for their patience,” said Hjelmstad. “We’re working as fast as we can and we’ll be happy to get everything opened up.”