(1) Whenever the department proposes to construct a highway bypassing any city or town, or to provide an alternate route through or outside any city or town, the commission shall notify the governing officials of the city or town and hold a public hearing, on a date set, for the purpose of advising the citizens of the city or town of the reason or reasons for the highway proposed to be constructed.
(2) The hearing shall be held within the city or town to be bypassed, except that if the highway proposed will bypass or provide an alternate route through or outside of several cities or towns located within close proximity to each other, the commission may combine the hearings and hold them in one city or town centrally and conveniently located to the others at which time each city and town shall be given ample opportunity to be heard.
(3) Subsequent to the hearing, the commission shall notify in writing the officials of the city or town, or of each of the cities or towns if the hearings are combined, of the decision reached as a result of the hearing within 10 days from the time the decision is reached.