More than 200 construction projects that will help maintain Minnesota’s roads and bridges, improve safety and support thousands of construction jobs across the state will be worked on this year. The Minnesota Department of Transportation made the announcement Thursday, April 8.
In addition, crews will make safety and infrastructure improvements to 51 multimodal projects, which are airport, port, transit and railroad projects that are outside of the state road construction program.
The following projects are expected to impact this area:
• Constructing a reduced conflict intersection on Highway 2 near Marcoux Corner, improving safety at the intersection with Highway 32. (This project will be completed under traffic, and motorists will shift to a single lane in each direction. Highway 32 will be detoured during construction.)
• Resurfacing Highway 59 from Winger to Erskine, creating a longer lasting road and improving pedestrian crossings in Winger.
• Resuming the construction of a roundabout at Highways 1 and 59 in Thief River Falls. MnDOT started this project in 2020, but weather delays led to its postponement.
• Resuming the resurfacing of Highway 1 between Pennington County Road 18 (near the Multi-Events Center in Thief River Falls) to Highway 219 (commonly referred to as the Goodridge corner).
It is believed that the latter three projects will lead to detours.
The contractor was expected to meet with MnDOT Project Manager Andrea Weleski last week to determine an exact start date. “The last we spoke, they were waiting for road restrictions to be lifted after May 3,” said Public Affairs Coordinator Leslie Seitz.
MnDOT Project Manager Andrea Weleski hadn’t returned a phone message as of presstime Tuesday morning.
“Safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable transportation is vital to the quality of life and economic success of our state,” said MnDOT Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher. “Although Minnesota’s transportation needs greatly outnumber available resources, this year’s construction program demonstrates MnDOT’s commitment to making smart investments in our system to better serve all people.”
Minnesotans can also find an interactive map and full 2021 project list at mndot.gov/construction. Individual project pages include information about construction schedules, traffic impacts, maps, benefits and costs.