Highway 3 Clarion-Humboldt Summer Construction Details

Substantial repairs to Highway 3 are scheduled to begin May 19, as the Iowa Department of Transportation (IADOT) begins patching problem sections of concrete. The road renovation – which will cost $13 million dollars and refurbish 25 miles of road through Humboldt and Clarion – is expected to last at least into November and possibly into Spring 2015. “It’s a much-needed project, but it is going to take time,” said Roy Gelhaus, Resident Construction Engineer at IADOT.

The project will:

- Patch problem areas with concrete

- Add four feet to the roads’ sides, giving them paved shoulders

- Add three new inches of asphalt to the road’s surface throughout its entirety

- Install new bridge approaches (the areas 70 feet on the entrance to bridges) on the three bridges along the route

- Add new tile and sub-drains alongside the roadway

- Replace sidewalks along Highway 3 in Clarion, leveling off entrances to make them wheelchair accessible

- Install new traffic signals at Clarion’s Highway 3 / 2nd Street intersection, which will include new poles, LED lights, and GPS and cameras to control the lights, which will run by traffic detection and coordinated with the Main Street stoplights, rather than the present timing system

Construction within Clarion’s city limits is scheduled to begin in June. The bridges will each take between one month and six weeks to repair. The project will not involve detours – as sections of road are repaired, pilot cars and flaggers will lead drivers on stretches of single lanes. Bridges will be controlled via signaling.

Read more in the May 15 issue of the Wright County Monitor!