US Highway 65 project in Mason City ahead of schedule, early November opening now anticipated

MASON CITY — Road construction season heads into its final two months in north-central Iowa, but a couple of projects are ahead of schedule for now, weather permitting.

Pete Hjelmstad of the Iowa Department of Transportation says work on US Highway 65 in the southern part of Mason City was scheduled for a late November completion date, but things are progressing.   “We are ahead of schedule on 65. It’s gone really, really well, and we’re hoping we can get things opened by early November. We’ve got a dry week so we can hopefully make progress, but you get some rain in there and all of a sudden things change, but that’s what we’re shooting for is early November. All the underground work is done and next week we should be doing some more paving in there. We’ll keep pushing forward.”

Hjelmstad says the State Highway 122 project between South Monroe and South Pierce is on schedule for a November completion.   “On 122, there’s going to be more paving done this week, doing some sidewalks and some of the new highway. That one is still on schedule for late November.”

Hjelmstad says you can keep track of road construction projects by downloading the Iowa 511 app on your phone or by heading to 511ia.org