Otter Tail County road projects to reshape summer travel across county
CSAH 35’s detour near Underwood, Perham’s Highway 8 work, and bridge replacements at Bluff Creek and Leaf River will reroute summer traffic across the county.
The heaviest summer disruption is already lining up on CSAH 35 near Underwood, where reconstruction moved traffic onto Highways 18, 45 and 1 and shifted Anna Lake access to 228th Avenue and 260th Street. Milling was scheduled to begin May 18, making this one of the county’s most immediate route changes for commuters, farm hauling and lake traffic.
Perham will feel another major hit on CSAH 8, from north of Highway 10 to the east junction of CSAH 80, where reconditioning includes ADA accessibility improvements. Otter Tail County held an open house May 4 at Perham City Hall, with the presentation set for 5:30 p.m., as the project moved from planning into the season when traffic is at its heaviest. The county says all project dates are approximate and weather dependent, which leaves plenty of room for detours to shift as work progresses.
Beyond those two corridors, the county’s 2026 roadwork list reaches into several other communities. CSAH 24 on the east side of Erhard is scheduled for resurfacing, with an open house set for July 29 at Erhards Grove Town Hall. CSAH 76 over Bluff Creek near Deer Creek is planned for bridge replacement, while County Highway 143 over Leaf River in Bluffton is also marked for bridge replacement. CSAH 82 from Highway 59 to Norway Pine Road in Dalton is slated for reconstruction. Each of those jobs affects a different slice of the county’s travel network, from local access to farm-to-market routes and summer lake movement.
County officials are managing the work across a system that includes 1,067 miles of County State Aid Highways and 74 bridges, a footprint that helps explain why so many projects can land at once. The county’s 2026 road construction page also says weight restrictions remain in effect on CSAH 6 from CSAH 65 to Highway 29, adding another constraint for heavier loads moving through the area.
The county Board of Commissioners approved two road-related construction contracts at its Jan. 6 meeting, including work on County Highway 8 in Perham and the closed bridge over Bluff Creek. Taken together, the 2026 program reflects a longer transportation push tied to the county’s 2050 plan, with reconstruction, resurfacing, grade raises and bridge work aimed at fixing longstanding bottlenecks and safety problems while forcing summer travelers to build in extra time.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
