Construction projects Highway 65 head towards fall completion

An end is in sight for detours caused by bridge construction throughout the area.

Pete Hjelmstad, Field Services Coordinator for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said that construction on two bridges on Highway 65 through Hampton are expected to be completed by mid-October.

Construction on the bridges over Squaw Creek by the Hampton Cemetery and Spring Creek by Harriman Park began in March. The plan for both bridges was to remove the original structure and construct a new bridge. Hjelmstad said crews have made quick progress thanks to a relatively dry construction season and remain on schedule for the fall opening.

“Both decks are poured on the bridges in Hampton and crews are getting ready to add concrete barriers on both side…and completing dirt work on either side of the bridge to pour the concrete that connects the bridge and the highway,” he said.

Construction on the three bridges along Highway 65 through Rockwell, Hjelmstad said, will likely be completed in mid-November, as originally scheduled. He said one of the bridges has already received the new deck and decks for the other two will be added “by the end of the month.”

Hjelmstad said he’s pleased with the progress made on all five bridges to this point and anticipates a successful end to the process.

“Both projects are on the schedule that we had when they started,” he said. “With bridge projects, you always have a bit of a delay because of weather but then things go well for a couple of weeks and you easily make up that delay.”

The Iowa DOT is also working on a third bridge project in the area, but Hjelmstad said the finish line for that project is much further out. Crews are currently working to conduct a full bridge replacement project on Highway 3 east of Dumont along the West Fork of the Cedar River. The project began on Friday, May 1 but isn’t expected to finish until next November.

Hjelmstad said the distant completion date is due to the sheer scope of the project. Whereas the bridge on Highway 65 near Harriman Park is 223 feet long, the Highway 3 bridge is 498 feet long.

“This one is a little bit slower because it is a very large bridge,” he said. “It’s just the fact that it’s a bigger bridge and a lot of work needs to be done.”

He added crews have had to fight conditions from time to time.

“The water in the river has come up and has slowed things up a bit,” he said. “Other than that, everything is working out great.”