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LA CRESCENT, Minn. — Construction on Hwys. 14/61 will likely not be complete until Labor Day, officials at the Minnesota Department of Transportation said.

“Weather has been the biggest factor,” said Mark Anderson, MnDOT project engineer.

Initially, MnDOT thought the $9.4 million project, which began in April 2007, would be completed by this weekend, but excessive spring rain slowed progress, he said.

Even with a possible Labor Day completion date, MnDOT Public Affairs Coordinator Kristine Hernandez said the project is ahead of schedule.

“Typically they get so many working days in their contract, but in this case they have a completion date of Oct. 17, 2008,” she said.

Minnowa Construction, based in Harmony, Minn., was contracted to do the work, she said, but MnDOT has up to five workers on site to inspect the progress.

“As long as they get it done within the contract period we can’t touch them,” she said. “They can work when they want. We don’t micro-manage.”

Winona Excavating, a sub-contractor, is working on the sanitary sewer and water main to the city, La Crescent Mayor Mike Poellinger said. After that, Minnowa will continue with resurfacing and install new curbs, gutters, medians and guardrails.

“All of us are concerned because the project is more than a year long, and underground work takes a long time, and it’s very susceptible to weather,” Poellinger said.

The city is eager for the project to be completed, he said, because they have another one slated to begin when this one ends. They will mill and resurface Hwy. 61 from Chestnut Street to the I-90 on-ramp north of the city.

Jeff Steinfeldt, project manager with Winona Excavating, said he typically has eight workers at the site, and they schedule their time based on their workload, the timeline and the economy.

“We’re ahead of the timeline,” Steinfeldt said. “We’re gonna have this done well before October. That’s what we hope.”