With the conclusion of the Labor Day holiday long weekend, as people return to work and students get back to classes, a couple of high profile projects began right away Tuesday in the Iowa Great Lakes Region.
First, the Iowa Department of Transportation announced the slower season at Okoboji means it is time to shift back into construction mode on U.S.
Highway 71 in Arnolds Park. The Highway 71 modernization project, which includes pavement replacement and other tasks, is being done jointly by
IDOT and the cities of Arnolds Park and Okoboji.
Stage 1 of the Highway 71 Lakes Reconstruction Project took place in the spring and wrapped up by the time the traditional tourist summer season began in late May on Memorial Day.
Now, Stage 2 of the project is set to start, and there will be some closures and detours in various places of Highway 71. The upcoming work will go into the month of October.
More work will take place in 2024 to complete the planned IDOT work in the Okoboji area, when once again there will be both spring and fall work
portions, to avoid the summer tourist season.
The entire Highway 71 project has a projected $19 million cost. The second high profile project is less costly with a projected $800,000 cost, but also involves an immediate start to work Tuesday and occurs at
perhaps the busiest public beach on West Lake Okoboji.
The city of Arnolds Park received a grant to rework the amenities and layout of Crescent Park Beach, which is at the southmost end of West Lake Okoboji. The work will ideally be done in time for the 2024 summer season. Swimmers and sun worshippers flocked to the beach on Monday, where a sign near the middle of the beach showed the it would close on Tuesday to
launch into the work, so people can’t use it in September this year.
Nancy Letcher joined the group of young people gathered on the end of the dock waiting for their chances to take a dive. Nancy Letcher pulled off a clean
dive into the water, then spoke about the project after joining her husband Steve Letcher on the beach.
The Letchers have been longtime residents of Milford, Iowa. They have come to the beach for more than 60 years, and Nancy said it is her favorite beach at
Okoboji.
The Letchers said they had seen the beach plans earlier this summer, and Nancy wants it to continue to have a natural sandy layout. Steve wants shady places to be continued from the present layout, whether from trees or some man-made overhangs.
