(KNSI) – Traffic through a construction zone to widen parts of Highway 23 to four lanes has been rerouted to a newly paved section.
The North Gap project started in March and has caused road closures and detours through a nine-mile construction zone between Richmond and Paynesville. Construction Project Manager Mike Klasen says the biggest goal of the project is improving safety.
“It’s going to be safer. Number one we are flattening out the curves, there is a divided highway and that’s always safer. We got turn lanes everywhere so traffic can get on and off the highway.”
Klasen asks drivers to follow the detour and not to use Google maps or other navigation services that steer traffic onto county roads. He says crews will be working on the project until the fall and at that time the detour will come down.
“We do plan on removing the detour off of the detour from County Road 12, to County Road 32 to county road 33 this year on November 4th.”
He says work will start again in the spring and be finished in the fall of 2023. The $94.5 million project began in March but has been in the planning stages since 2015. For more information on the project, click here.
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