MnDOT's 2026 Construction Projects Bring Lane Closures, Tunnel Work to Highway 61

The two tunnels that funnel every vehicle through Lake County on Highway 61 are back under construction this spring. MnDOT's LED lighting overhaul inside the Silver Creek Cliff and Lafayette Bluff tunnels resumes with weekday lane closures controlled by a signal system, and the agency is targeting June completion before peak summer traffic arrives. Work proceeds at one tunnel at a time, beginning at Lafayette Bluff before shifting to Silver Creek Cliff, and no restrictions are scheduled Fridays through Sundays.

That June deadline is the corridor's critical checkpoint. Finishing the tunnel work before the Fourth of July removes the most acute chokepoint heading into the season's heaviest weeks, but the rest of the MnDOT construction slate keeps pressure on Highway 61 from spring through November.

Just up the shore in Cook County, MnDOT enters year two of a culvert box replacement project running between Grand Marais and Grand Portage. Construction at the Carlson Creek location begins in May, with traffic shifted via a bypass. MnDOT noted that some of the culverts being replaced are over 80 years old and at the "end of their service life," with all other work from the project's 2025 first year now complete.

Also in Cook County, the Cascade River Wayside Rest near Lutsen loses parking and access flexibility starting this month. The historic wall repair project, which began in 2025 and runs through 2028, continues through November, meaning reduced parking at one of the North Shore's most heavily used pull-offs for the entire travel season.

Back inside Lake County, the Little Marais to Tofte Highway 61 Corridor Study enters its most consequential phase. MnDOT has already held public meetings in Schroeder during a data-collection phase; corridor vision and alternatives development follow in summer and fall, with preliminary design work expected before year's end. The study's eventual recommendations could reshape access points, pedestrian connections, and traffic patterns along a stretch of highway that doubles as the main street for communities from Little Marais to Tofte.

Rounding out the regional picture, a J-turn safety improvement at McQuade Road and Highway 61 in St. Louis County starts in July, adding lane closures and periodic McQuade Road restrictions at the southern approach to Two Harbors.

MnDOT's project pages will carry updated lane-closure schedules as each phase advances through the season.