(Spirit Lake)– Some work will be going on next summer on a heavily traveled road in the Iowa Great Lakes.
A re-surfacing project will be taking place on Iowa Highway 86 on the west side of West Lake Okoboji from Highway 9 at Vick’s Corner to the junction with Highway 71 on the north side of Milford.
As part of that project, the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors Tuesday signed off on an agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation. County Engineer Dan Eckert…
“We had a field exam for it about two months ago with the Iowa D.O.T and as I understand it they’re going to let the project in January for next summer’s construction to re-surface that road. We wanted them to take a look at some turning lanes and intersections and do some improvements on both of those things and so we came to an agreement where the county will end up paying I think approximately $75,000 to do significant intersection improvement all the way down ’86.”
Eckert says the improvements should make things a little safer along the route…
“They’re going to add a couple of turning lanes and extend a couple of turning lanes that are already there. Many of the intersections we’re going to pave all the way back to the right-of-way line rather than just their normal 10 foot fill it, they call it. We’d like to see them go all the way back and then address extending and improving some of turning lanes.”
That would be in addition to a new turning lane installed recently near Schuck’s.
Eckert says it’s his understanding the D.O.T plans to do the work during the summer…
“It will be a pilot car set up. That’s the good news. They’re not going to close it and detour it. It will be just a one-lane situation but as I understand it it’s going to be right during the middle of summer, anytime the contractor wants to, which will probably impact some of the summer traffic.”
Eckert says it will be good to have the Highway 86 project done prior to work getting underway on Highway 71 through the lakes corridor, which is currently scheduled for 2023.
