Work to start next week on second phase of US 65 reconstruction in Mason City

MASON CITY — Work is scheduled to resume next week in Mason City on the US Highway 65 reconstruction project.

Pete Hjelmstad with the Iowa Department of Transportation says the segment of highway between State Highway 122 and 19th Street Southeast and Southwest will be closed starting on Monday as part of the second phase of this project.  “We started it last fall where we did  17th Street and just  to the south of 19th Street, we reconstructed that. Now we’re going to reconstruct from 6th Street all the way down to 17th Street this spring, summer and fall, then it will all be open for the winter. We will come back next spring and do from 19th Street down to 29th Street.”

Hjelmstad says traffic will be routed towards South Monroe Avenue as part of the detour.  “Traffic will be detoured using 122, Monroe, and then back on 19th Street. One thing that I want to stress with that closure is you will still be able to get to the businesses in that area by using side streets or city alleys.”

The detour is expected to remain in place until November 25th or when the roadwork is completed.