Cook County Highway Department continues summer road work
Road work in Cook County will reduce traffic to a single lane on the Gunflint Trail on Monday and briefly close South Caribou Drive in Lutsen on Aug. 18 and 19 as the Highway Department continues work on several projects this summer.
The Highway Department has projects underway throughout Cook County, including on the west end, where the closure of South Caribou Drive is expected to replace two culverts. The single-lane closure on the Gunflint Trail on Monday will be at the Little Devil Track River Bridge as crews perform concrete grinding.
Meanwhile, crews are resurfacing the Gunflint Trail between County Road 92 East and County Road 92 West. The project will cover 10 miles of roadway that Cook County Highway Engineer Robbie Kimmel-Hass said has not been repaved in decades.
“I think for anybody that’s ever driven that stretch of road, it needed it, and it needed it bad,” Kimmel-Hass told WTIP. “To the best of our knowledge, that is actually original pavement there. ”
The reduction to single-lane traffic is expected to be done by noon on Monday.
The “Gunflint Trail Between the 92s” project was funded by the Local Road Improvement Program, a state-funded initiative for projects of regional significance.
Additional funding came from Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District, which allocated Rainy River Headwaters funds for culvert replacements.
“I spend a lot of my time going after funds from outside of the county to come in, so we can do these types of projects,” Kimmel-Hass said. “Shout out to our soil and water folks for being great partners in that regard.”
The Highway Department is also working to extend the bike path along Highway 61 to Great Expectations School. The initial path was completed in 2021. Work this summer will extend the trail to Fifth Avenue West in front of the recycling center.
Road construction season can last until mid-October, when the Minnesota Department of Transportation sets a date for work to cease. Kimmel-Hass said the county’s current projects are expected to be completed before that deadline.
Kimmel-Hass also reminded motorists to be mindful of construction workers while traveling through work zones.
“I know you know folks are coming up here and visiting from the cities to get away from it. So apologies when you got to run into it again when you’re up here trying to go to your cabin or get into the woods or anything,” Kimmel-Hass said. “But I would just remind people, please, please, please be cognizant of the construction workers that are out there, the people that are doing this work. ”
WTIP spoke to Kimmel-Hass about the road construction projects throughout Cook County. The audio of that conversation is available below.
Josh Hinke August 17, 2026
