Staff photo by Fritz Busch Motorists drive across the Minnesota River on the new Highway 14-15 bridge on Wednesday after it opened. Work crews were still finishing up a few things on the pedestrian pathway on the bridge.

NEW ULM — After 617 days, motorists can now cross the Minnesota River on the new Highway 14/15 New Ulm Gateway project.

The new two-lane bridge with a substructure that can be expanded to four lanes, opened to traffic at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Construction of the $32.5 million project began in 2017. Most of the work and detours took place in 2018 and 2019.

Gone is a four-way stop at 20th Street South (Nicollet County Road 37) and Highway 14 east of New Ulm.

Work included a new two-lane bridge over Front Street designed for four-lane expansion, a roundabout at the Highway 14 and Front Street intersection, reconstructing Highway 14 (7th Street North) between Broadway and Front Street including city water main and sanitary sewer replacement.

In addition, Highways 14 and 15 were raised above the 100-year flood elevation. A trail was built on the north side of the highway from German Street to the interchange.

Project benefits include increased corridor safety and capacity and enhanced interregional trade function of the (highway) corridor.

Construction crews and landscapers will return to the project in spring to complete aesthetic work that will not require detours, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

“It’s certainly a benefit as far as Broadway traffic congestion. It was somewhat problematic since it was such a heavily-traveled area,” said New Ulm Police Chief Dave Borchert. “With more traffic, you always have more collisions. We definitely saw it. I’m confident we’ll have less collisions now on South Broadway.”

New Ulm Assistant City Engineer Joe Stadheim said the project was an example of lots of good coordination between agencies and subcontractors.

“We’re just happy. We’re very glad to have it open,” Stadheim said about the project. “There was a lot of good coordination with MnDOT, Mathiowetz Construction, other agencies and subcontractors. There was lots of interagency coordination.”

While expansion of Highway 14 from New Ulm to Nicollet is currently unfunded, MnDOT is advancing the design and environmental processes to be prepared for potential funding.

The recent selection of the Highway 14 Owatonna to Dodge Center for Corridors of Commerce funding moves the New Ulm to Nicollet project farther up the list for future funding.

For more information, visit https:www.dot.state.mn.us/d7/projects/14newulmtomankato/

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).