Beltrami County road projects bring summer closures, detours north of Bemidji

Drivers north of Bemidji are about to lose two key corridors at once, and the first squeeze starts April 27 when County Highway 22, also called Island View Drive, closes to through traffic from Irvine Avenue NW to Wildwood Road NE. The closure will run in phases through October, pushing commuters, delivery trucks and farm traffic onto posted detours while keeping access open for homes and businesses along the route. County officials said everyone else should expect delays as work moves east toward U.S. Highway 71.

The bigger second hit comes on Highway 71 between Turtle River and Tenstrike, where MnDOT says reconstruction is scheduled for summer 2026 and will overlap with the Highway 22 work. That project is needed because the roadway has aging infrastructure, and it will include pavement reconstruction, a southbound bypass lane at Turtle River Lake Road and entrance culvert replacements. The highway will be closed during the work, but property owners will keep access, and drivers will be routed around the closure on Gull Lake Loop Road NE. MnDOT has set an open house for Tuesday, May 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Turtle River Town Hall, 9883 S Arm Ct., Bemidji.

Beltrami County’s Public Works Department says its Highway Division maintains more than 750 miles of road and 128 bridges, including 465 miles of County State Aid Highways and 255 miles of county roads. That scale matters when one corridor shuts down, because traffic does not simply disappear north of Bemidji, it shifts onto the next available route. For nearby businesses, the practical issue will be whether customers can still reach them from the south, east or west without running into the closures and phased construction zones.

The county has also set up a communication list for Highway 22 updates, a sign officials expect conditions to change often enough that drivers will need regular notice. The corridor has already seen repeated work in recent seasons. A May 3, 2024 construction update for CSAH 22 said bridge construction on Turtle River Lake Rd. NE would resume with two work sites 2.25 miles and 3.9 miles east of U.S. Highway 71, with the roadway open to local traffic only until the job was finished and with partial lane closures and delays expected. Taken together, the projects point to a long stretch of construction season for anyone who lives, hauls, farms or runs a business along the Turtle River and Bemidji north country routes.