Officials celebrate start of U.S. Highway 14 expansion project in southern Minnesota

Work to expand another 12 miles of U.S. Highway 14 to four lanes in southern Minnesota is underway. It's the last leg in a decades-long effort to create a four-lane transportation corridor between Rochester and New Ulm.

Local, state and federal officials gathered in Courtland, Minn., on Tuesday morning for a ceremonial groundbreaking.

In addition to expanding Highway 14 to four lanes between New Ulm and Nicollet, the Minnesota Department of Transportation says crews will construct a bypass around the community of Courtland and build two new interchanges, among other improvements.

The $84 million project — including a $22 million federal grant received in 2020 — comes after years of calls to improve safety along that stretch of highway. Gov. Tim Walz noted at Tuesday's gathering that a former neighbor and friend was one of dozens of people killed in crashes along two-lane Highway 14 in recent decades.

The ceremony

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"Many in this crowd have stories very similar to this," Walz said. "This is one of the most dangerous highways in Minnesota. It has been for years, but the collaboration to continue to work together to improve this has been nothing short of stunning."

U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith also joined other local and state officials at Tuesday's ceremony and mentioned the safety concerns driving the project.

"We had to slow down in order to avoid a collision just today," Smith said. "And this happens to people who live in these communities every single day, often with tragic, tragic outcomes. So to know that we're taking the final step and making the final segment of a four-lane highway completed here is just really exciting."

Project backers say the expanded highway is also important to the local economy, providing quicker travel across that part of southern Minnesota.

"There's a lot of jobs that are going to be created by this and a lot of pride that will go in improving the safety on this highway," Walz said, "making it easier to get from place to place and making it easier to ship goods to keep our economic vitality out here in Greater Minnesota going."

Detours are already in place, with work set to continue through fall of 2023.

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