Next phase of US Highway 65 reconstruction in southern Mason City starts today

MASON CITY — The next phase of the reconstruction of US Highway 65 in the southern portion of Mason City starts today.

The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Pete Hjelmstad says a traffic switch is taking place today to open the road south of 19th Street Southeast and Southwest, while the portion of the highway between 19th and 17th Street Southeast will now be worked on.  “The south half of 19th Street will open up, so traffic will be using that the way they’ve been using the north half right now in a head-to-head pattern. South of 65 will open up, there will no longer be the detour that runs on B-35 and Kentucky, but the north half will close. So traffic will be detoured on 19th over to Monroe and then on 5th or 6th on State Highway 122 depending on which way you are going to be going.”

Hjelmstad says traffic lights have been installed on that detour route to help with traffic. “At Monroe and 15th Street, as you’ve probably noticed, there have been traffic lights hanging there for several weeks. That is in anticipation of this detour. Those traffic lights will be turned on on Wednesday to make it easier for traffic to get through that intersection at 15th.”

Hjelmstad says that portion of the project is scheduled to be done around Thanksgiving.