I recently purchased a home just east of Grand Marais and have watched with interest the rhetoric and commentary regarding the new Highway 61 rebuild.
MnDOT calls this a Complete Streets Project. The community in which I came from just went through a Complete Streets Project. I am from Glenwood, Minnesota, which is the county seat for Pope County and has a population of 2,500. We are considered a summer tourist destination, as Glenwood is located on a large lake called Lake Minnewaska. The entire project, including underground utilities was $11.5 million. Prior to this project our sidewalks, curbs and gutters, streetlights, traffic lights and utilities were in horrible condition.
From the onset of this project several people in Glenwood were against it for various reasons. Some of the reasons for not supporting the project were the overall cost, removing elm trees that were 150 years old, change in the normal flow of traffic, and various other reasons.
At the time leading up to the start of the project I served on the Glenwood Chamber of Commerce board so I was directly involved with listening to a lot of the merchants and various other groups’ complaints and concerns.
Several businesses during this time dropped their Chamber membership because they felt the Chamber was pushing a project that they were not in favor of.
At one point MnDOT became so tired of the rhetoric that they decided to drop the project and go elsewhere with the money to a community that they know would support it. If it were not for the lobbying of our mayor and trips to Saint Paul we would not have been given this gift of $11.5 million from the state of Minnesota. I use the word gift because that is exactly what it was. As a small community we could have never afforded to build this beautiful street with all of the beautiful sidewalks, planters, ornate streetlights, and overall beautification of our main street.
It was a tough year with all of our streets dug up and the rerouting of the traffic but once it was done the people that were against it admitted they were wrong in not supporting it and they realized it was one of the best things that has ever happened to our community.
The trees that were removed were replaced by three times more trees than what were there before by MnDOT.
I feel like our main street is now vibrant again and I get a proud feeling every time a guest comes to see us and compliments on how beautiful our downtown is.
In Grand Marais all of the busted curbs, sidewalks, standing water, utilities, and streetlights, are badly in need of repair. I know this project would make Grand Marais the most desirable destination on the North Shore. We are being offered a gift from the state of Minnesota. Let’s receive it with generosity and let MnDOT go ahead with their plans. Let’s leave a community to our children and grandchildren that they can be proud of.
Dean Peterson
Grand Marais
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