Some portions of US 65 in southern Mason City to open this month, major intersection to close next week

MASON CITY — Progress continues on the reconstruction of US Highway 65 in the southern half of Mason City. 

Pete Hjelmstad with the Iowa Department of Transportation says starting next week they’ll be opening up small portions of the newly-paved road. “The week of July 7th, we are planning on opening 6th Street to 7th Street, so the new construction will be open to traffic. Just local traffic obviously, you’re not going to be able to travel through 65. Then the week of the 14th, we are hoping to open up to 8th Street. So again, we’re making good progress there as well. The fact that we can get some of these things open is really good news.”

Hjelmstad says starting next week a major intersection will be closed as part of the project.   “On July 7th, on Monday, we will be closing the 15th Street intersection to 16th. 16th will not be closed, so you’ll still be able to get to the businesses there by using 16th Street and coming in from the south.”

Hjelmstad says recent rain has hampered some of the DOT’s projects but they are continuing to make progress.