The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced last week transportation stimulus projects that include resurfacing Highway 10 from Staples to Wadena.

Fifty-three city and county projects in the state were moved forward with economic stimulus funding from the federal government. Bids were opened March 13 in St. Paul on the first 11 of these projects, including the Staples Highway 10 project.

The apparent low bidder on the Staples project was Knife River Corporation with a low bid of $6,834,760.

The construction cost of this project had been estimated at $7,091,090. It will be getting started in May.

The $75 million in projects include 22 road projects, 22 bridge projects and several state and local partnership projects.

These city and county projects are in addition to the 60 state highway projects announced by Governor Pawlenty and Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel in February. Using federal stimulus funds, the state projects are slated to begin construction in Minnesota as early as this spring and total $180 million.

The projects may be advertised by local governments and contractors selected as early as April 2009.

The Highway 10 project will include bituminous milling and overlay from the beginning of the four lane roadway east of Wadena to just west of Staples. All four lanes of the roadway will be resurfaced. The project will also include installing rumble strips from east of Staples to west of Motley.

Partnership projects include resurfacing Interstate 90 and County Road 46 in Freeborn County. Improvements include a new alignment of an urban four-lane roadway in Waite Park, replacement of a three-span bridge in Aitken County and construction of a new interchange and elimination of an at-grade railroad crossing near Mankato.

A list of the projects is available on MnDOT's Web site at http://www.dot.

state.mn.us/.

They included two 'living snow fence' projects

north of Little Falls on Highway 371; two projects on Highway 2 near Deer River, another Highway 2 project west of Bemidji.

Projects were selected based on project readiness; consistency with state and regional plans; statewide jobs, transportation and geographic impact; state wide job balance and project advancement. Projects already funded in state fiscal year 2009 were not included in stimulus because the planned construction schedule must be advanced by one or more fiscal years. In addition, work must start on projects immediately after letting and contract award. This will ensure that the projects represent new or increased work and result in job creation.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that the Greater Minnesota state and local projects will create approximately 5,000 jobs. Projects in the Twin Cities Metro area are still being finalized and will be announced later this month.

In addition to the state projects, local counties and other units of government will also be using stimulus funding for a variety of road projects and other work.