Cook County Highway Engineer Robert Kimmel-Hass, photo provided

From Cook County, MN - January 9, 2026

By: Robert Kimmel-Hass, Cook County Highway Engineer

With the 2025 construction season wrapped up at the Highway Department, we are already working on projects for the 2026 season. Projects are slated throughout the county, from up the Gunflint to Grand Marais, and over to Hovland.

Beginning up the Trail, we have been working for several years to resurface the Gunflint Trail between CR 92E and CR 92W. Approximately five miles of the trail will be resurfaced, culverts will be replaced, and deteriorated roadbed will be strengthened. We secured two grants to go towards this project: Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) and Rainy River Headwater funds. The LRIP is a competitive state grant that we were awarded $1.5 million to go towards this project. Our partnership with the Cook SWCD has also secured us $67,000 to go towards culvert replacements to improve water body connectivity. This project will go out for bid in 2026. We anticipate utilizing CR 92 itself as a partial detour to limit impacts when culverts are replaced and interruptions to travel. Construction will likely begin mid-May or early June and would be expected to last until October.

Moving into town, the Gunflint Multi-Use Trail has three competitive grants tied to it: Active Transportation (AT), Transportation Alternatives (TA), and Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) funds and totals just over $554,000. Each of these represents different opportunities to construct alternative transportation corridors. The multi-use trail will be a 10-ft wide asphalt walking, biking, and rolling trail connecting the existing trail in front of Great Expectations School to continue up the Gunflint in front of the Law Enforcement Center, behind the Highway Department and ISD 166 towards 5th Ave W, and then turn down 5th Ave W to connect to existing sidewalk in front of the recycling center. The portion of the project on 5th Ave W will be a 6-ft wide sidewalk to match the existing sidewalk on 5th Ave W. This project has a bid opening scheduled for January 13, 2026. Construction will begin early June and wrap up before school starts.

Heading up the shore towards Hovland, we have three projects planned around and on the Arrowhead Trail: Pine River bridge replacement, Arrowhead Trail Improvements, and Chicago Bay Road Improvements.

• The Pine River bridge replacement will take place at the very end of the Arrowhead Trail. The existing deficient timber bridge was built in 1960 and has a rating of 36/100. Any bridge with a rating under 60/100 is eligible for replacement and allows access to state bridge bonds and/or town bridge funds to cover construction. By having this project ready to go, we were able to secure just over $1.6 million to go towards this replacement. The new bridge will be a single span prestressed concrete bridge with timber railings. There will be a bypass during construction to maintain vehicle and emergency access. This project has a bid opening scheduled for January 13,2026. Construction for this project will begin early June and wrap up early September 2026.
  
  
• The Arrowhead Trail Improvement Project will resurface the existing 2.5-miles of road surface, replace all of the culverts, and upsize the culvert at the Otis Creek crossing to a concrete box culvert to address flooding issues. This project is funded through our annual state aid allocation and bridge bonding. Construction will likely begin early June and last through the fall. A temporary bypass will be constructed at the Otis Creek crossing to ensure continual traffic flow. This project has a bid opening scheduled for February 10, 2026.
  
  
• Lastly, the Chicago Bay Road Improvement Project will resurface the existing pavement and replace all of the culverts. From our previous town hall discussions, the road will not be striped and the Hovland dock parking area will remain gravel. This project is funded through our local Transportation Sales Tax (TST) fund. Construction will likely begin early July and last through the fall. This project has a bid opening scheduled for February 10, 2026.

Thank you to the community for the successful 2025 construction season. We appreciate everyone’s patience while construction projects are going on. 2026 is shaping up to be another busy season, so we thank you in advance for your patience and input on these projects.

For additional information, please give me a call at the Cook County Highway Department, 218-387-3014. For maps and a list of projects in our 10-year transportation plan, please visit the Highway Department page on the County website at www.co.cook.mn.us.

Take care and see you on the road!

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