There also will be two bridge replacements in the area: the Anchor Inn bridge on County 4 requiring a detour beginning about Aug. 1 and a timber bridge between Portage and Sand Lake east of Inger on County 35 requiring a detour starting about June 1. A culvert will be replaced in Third River Township on County Road 141 with a detour in late summer or early fall, according to Karin Grandia, Itasca County transportation engineer.

Overlays not requiring detours will be made on four miles of County 24 in Ardenhurst Township and seven miles on County 13 in Moose Park Township.

In southwestern Koochiching County, the county partner with the Itasca County 26 project in Ardenhurst, doing bituminous overlay and some centerline culvert replacement (County 28 in Koochiching). The county also plans some centerline pipe replacement which may require a short day or so detour on Highway 36 between Mizpah and Kelliher, according to Doug Grindall, county engineer.

A major state project will affect Highway 169 between Grand Rapids and Nashwauk this year. An eight to nine week mill and overlay project is planned for the highway between Grand Rapids and Coleraine, and a major road reconstruction between Taconite and Pengilly. The latter will be done in two separate segments requiring two detours of about 2-3 weeks each, said Kevin Rohling, project engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, District One. A mill and overlay of the highway between Pengilly and Nashwauk will not require a detour. The project will begin in early June and run through construction season.

Another MnDOT project includes culvert replacement on Highway 65 between Nashwauk and Togo. Next year this section will be reclaimed under traffic, Rohling said.