While there has been years of planning for a border-to-border touring route through Minnesota’s state, federal, township, and county back roads, three counties, three townships and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior are opposed to a route going through their roads, and instead have asked the Minnesota DNR to have the proposed roads for the course bypass them.
That said, the DNR continues to work on plans for an approximately 850-mile touring route that, as of now, would knit together a maze of roads that will connect the eastern and western borders of Minnesota across the northern third of the state using minimum maintenance and rugged roadways.
The end product will be a signed, mapped route for highway-licensed, largely four-wheel drive vehicles, following roads that minimize asphalt, and are already open for driving.
As it stands now, the course would run from North Dakota to Hovland.
Currently Paul Purman of the DNR is heading up the project, and Paul graciously agreed to answer some questions about the B2B for Cook County News-Herald readers.
How close are you to having a finished route? Do you foresee any big changes coming to what is now shown on the DNR website?
We have been working with the contractor on finalizing a route that can be submitted to DNR’s Environmental Review unit. The route on the website has already been through an extensive process, but we have wanted to work with townships and counties to address any remaining questions before moving to a final preferred route.
Do you have any more public meetings to hold? And if so, where are they?
We do not currently have any additional public meetings scheduled.
What is Red Lake’s stance on the B2B route going through their reservation?
The current proposed draft route does use public roads adjacent to lands owned and managed by the Red Lake Band, but is not planned to enter the reservation. DNR has informed the band about the project and invited their questions and comments, and will work with Red Lake, and any other band or community, on ideas and questions about the B2B project.
Have there been any environmental reviews done of some of the more sensitive areas the B2B route is now proposed to go through?
The draft route developed to date—all on roads currently open to highway licensed vehicles—has been informed by observations and comments by the public and governments along the route, including of an environmental nature. DNR interdisciplinary teams have reviewed the draft route with an eye toward sensitive areas, natural resources conservation and recreation. Once we have a final draft alignment it will be submitted to the DNR’s Environmental Review unit.
Is there an estimate (or guestimate) of how many riders will take this journey each year?
Visitorship along the Border to Border Touring Route is unknown and will require monitoring once the route is in place.
We know that a successful route will be sustainable for both local communities and the tourists who visit. Travelers will tend to choose the locations that are more welcoming and that actively market the unique features along the touring route.
One of things we plan to have the route administrator do is to work with communities to measure increased use of the route. We recognize that another part of increased visits is the concern for potential increased costs to maintain roads.
So, the 2019 Legislature provided an appropriation of funds to allow DNR to work with road authorities on costs demonstrated to be from increased use along the route, and we will be working with communities on this.
What is the overall response of the counties that would be impacted by the B2B route?
Overall response has been receptive to the idea of a route that will help people enjoy the outdoors and bring tourism dollars to northern Minnesota. When questions and concerns have been raised—which is completely normal in new projects—we’ve been receptive to sitting down with counties to work through any issues.
Will there be any effort to monitor these groups of riders? Will the groups have to let authorities know they are traveling through an area?
On any public roads open to highway licensed vehicles, including state Scenic Byways, drivers can drive without informing authorities. The B2B Route will be no different. The 2019 Legislature did appropriate funds for project administration to enable DNR to implement sustainable touring routes, and that will include communications with road authorities about overall route management.
When Grand Portage nixed the route going through their lands the proposal ceased being a true border-to-border route. Has anyone from the DNR thought of making a backroad touring route from the border of Wisconsin to Iowa? There are quite a few small towns that it could pass through that would benefit from tourism. These are towns that were bypassed when the freeway was put in from the Twin Cities to Duluth.
A true B2B route through these areas would add to these towns’ economies, and that’s one big stated benefit of the program. Coming through Cook County many people can’t see any economic benefit from these trail blazers who want to ride our dusty back roads. Is there, then, a possibility that the DNR could actually make a true border to border route on the lower third part of the state? The benefit to these areas would far outweigh any benefit to Cook County, unless you have an economic study that proves this supposition wrong.
There are some great ideas out there for interesting touring routes that would, as you say, benefit local communities through tourism; the northern part of the state certainly has no monopoly on interesting landscapes and communities!
The 2019 Legislature directed DNR to continue working on sustainable touring routes. So, we definitely expect the search for great, sustainable touring routes will continue.
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