A feed truck tipped over Friday on a closed portion of Freeborn County Road 46 west of Albert Lea.

“If he had taken the detour, it would have been five miles out of his way,” said Dan Kenison of the Freeborn County Engineer’s Office.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jeremy Drees of Taopi attempted to take the muddy shoulder westward alongside new pavement when, a quarter mile into his quest, the Sterling truck tipped into the ditch.

Freeborn County sheriff’s deputy Corey Farris said the truck will remain there, a quarter mile west of the route’s junction with Lake Chapeau Drive, until Monday. He said it is too muddy for tow trucks to get there and said he worried about his Ford Crown Victoria staying out of the ditch when responding.

Rain in the past week had made driving on the shoulder inadvisable except when necessary. Farris said the truck fell into the ditch enough to not block cars from using the shoulder.

The feed truck belonged to Interstate Mills’ Hayfield operation. The Tribune contacted the company Friday for a comment, but none was given. Interstate Mills is part of Owatonna-based Central Valley Cooperative.

Kenison said he asked Drees why he was driving there. Kenison said Drees’ response was the route was the only way he knew. He had been that way three weeks ago. He hadn’t tried looking at a map for alternative routes or calling the farm he was going to.

To reach his destination farm, the driver would have had to travel on the muddy shoulder for 3 1/4 miles. However, Kenison said he couldn’t have made it past two miles because the paver is blocking the shoulder just west of the western junction with County Road 71.

Kenison and Farris said he should have driven south on U.S. Highway 69 to County 17, heading west to County 14, then heading north to County 46. The farm is less than a 1/4 mile from the corner.

The detour would have been 8 1/4 miles.

Drees wasn’t cited by Freeborn County sheriff’s deputies.

Farris said it is too common to see drivers on closed roads. Once the concrete began to be poured, the violations have declined.

Kenison said one person last week indeed drove on the new concrete when it was just two days old for a small stretch. He said it was apparent someone moved the sign and barrels.

He said the Engineer’s Office had frequent trouble with driving on new concrete east of Albert Lea three years ago. He said the Engineer’s Office is in frequent contact with locals, who are the only ones who should need to take the shoulders.

“It’s the people who don’t live on the road who don’t know where they are going,” Kenison said.

He asked local farmers to be in contact with suppliers on how to get to the farms with the least shoulder driving.

He also noted that residents in the Armstrong area can count on north-south County 14 remaining open through the project. Ulland Brothers is the contractor.