Photo: MnDOT

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - June 2, 2026

Construction resumes this week at the historic Cascade River Wayside on Highway 61, located approximately 10 miles south of Grand Marais. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), crews were on-site as of yesterday, June 1, to continue a multi-year rehabilitation project that began in 2025. Work in 2026 is expected to last through November, while the overall project is scheduled to continue through 2028. 

The wayside was designed by Arthur R. Nichols and constructed between 1934 and 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) before the establishment of the Cascade State Park. The wayside is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features a 535-foot-long stone overlook wall integrated with the Highway 61 bridge, steps leading down to the ledge rock shoreline, and parking facilities on both sides of the highway. 

 Photo: MnDOT

The work that began this week includes drainage improvements, paving the lakeside parking lot, installing a new walk and stairs, and upgrading the pedestrian crossing, according to MnDOT. This comes on top of the work completed in 2025, which included masonry repairs to the historic overlook wall and salvaging stones from the lower, shore-level retaining walls.

Impacts to motorists and visitors include no parking on the lakeside of Highway 61, as well as temporary daytime traffic impacts. Later this summer, a partial closure of the inland parking lot will take place to accommodate work on the trailhead. 

MnDOT reminds drivers to exercise caution in the work zone by obeying posted speed limits, adding that the fine for speeding in a work zone is $300, and advising motorists to minimize distractions, give workers space, execute zipper merges, and avoid unnecessary lane changes.

MnDOT said that all rehabilitation work complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

To see more North Shore construction projects planned by MnDOT for 2026, click here.