Residents along Highway 65 will be required to use an alternate route to and from home as construction to replace bridges and culverts gets underway.
According to Joe Sutherland, Koochiching County engineer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will replace three bridges and culverts along Highway 65 just south of Littlefork beginning Thursday.
“Construction will run through the end of August,” he said. “MnDOT has identified the approximate number of days needed for these detours.”
In addition, another bridge north of Silverdale along the highway will be under construction beginning June 27. That construction period, he said, is expected to wrap up Aug. 10.
“To expedite the process,” Sutherland said, “MnDOT asked the county to use two of the county roads as detour routes.”
He said traffic impacted south of Littlefork will be rerouted to County Road 8, just east of Highway 65, and north of Silverdale will use County Road 74, also east of 65.
“Some of these people will have a long drive to the Falls,” said Commissioner Brian McBride. “But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Sutherland said while the long commute is “unfortunate,” he felt it was helpful that only one bridge on the stretch of highway closed south of Littlefork will be worked on at a time.
“Folks will be detoured around that accordingly,” he said.
Sutherland said the project is costing the county about $2,200, which he feels “isn’t a big dollar amount.”
Commissioner Wade Pavleck asked if affected residents have been notified of the upcoming construction and Sutherland said it was his understanding the project manager has had discussions with them.
During construction, MnDOT’s website urges motorists to slow down in all work zones, allow extra time for delays, be alert to flaggers and signing information and watch for workers and heavy equipment.
For more information about this road project and others in Minnesota, visit www.511mn.org.
