Listener Asks: Why Does Minnesota Start Road Construction In Middle of Summer?

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Have you ever wondered why the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will start a project in the middle of the construction season, just to stop it, and have to continue the next construction?

So did our co-worker Curt St. John, our resident shouter-at-clouds. To be fair, he's not the only one that raises a fist to shout at the clouds in anger (you know angry, "like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli").

But I digress.  We asked Mike Dougherty, MnDOT spokesperson for our district, District 6.

What it comes down to is...

a) Budgeting. Because Minnesota's fiscal year starts July 1st, funding for a project may not come thru until that time, so you start it then, rather than wait and have the completion date even further off. Dougherty said, "...ideally we would be able to start them as soon as it gets warm."

ii) Reality of contractors and schedules. According to MnDOT Mike says, "...there is also some balance, recognizing contractors...are working multiple projects for us."

3) Realities of the calendar. Sometimes, it just doesn't work to stop travel on a road when it's going to be wildly busy. In those cases, starting a little later works best for the most amount of people.

So that's why you'll see mid-summer MnDOT projects start up, instead of having all of them start at the beginning of the construction season.

Click PLAY to hear the conversation from Wednesday's Rochester Today Radio-On-Demand Podcast

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As always, if you have a comment, complaint, or concern about something I wrote here, please let me know: james.rabe@townsquaremedia.com

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