Roundabout progress ahead
Crews prepare for paving at Nelson Avenue project
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People who frequently drive near a roundabout intersection being built north of Fort Dodge may see some significant changes there over the next two weeks.
Construction of the roundabout at Nelson Avenue and 170th Street began in the spring. Most of the work done so far has been earthmoving and drainage related.
But this week, workers will start putting rock down in the roundabout, according to Jeffrey Fox, assistant to the Webster County engineer.
Then toward the end of next week, they will start paving, he added.
The entire project is still on track to be completed by the end of October, Fox said.
"We had a couple weeks worth of rain that caused some delay," he said.
Castor Construction, of Fort Dodge, is the general contractor for the project.
The plan still calls for an old fighter jet to be placed in the center of the roundabout, according to Fox.
The F-84 Thunderstreak stood in front of the headquarters of the Iowa Air National Guard's 133rd Test Squadron, just north of the roundabout, for decades. When the Test Squadron was decommissioned in 2025, the fate of the plane remained uncertain.
But in July, the 1954 vintage jet was lifted off the ground by an Army National Guard helicopter and was flown to the Air National Guard base in Sioux City for repainting.
When the plane will be returned to Webster County and placed in the roundabout depends entirely on the National Guard’s schedule, Fox said.