The Polk County Highway Department announced that they have closed the gravel highway between Fisher and Crookston (CSAH 61) and plans to keep it closed for the remainder of the winter.
The Highway Department explained that it normally spends tens of thousands of dollars each year trying to keep the stretch of County State Highway 61 (that parallels US Highway 2) open for the traveling public, but due to a shortage in staff, the department decided to close the stretch of roadway to save money and use their resources to clear other parts of the county’s highways. Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders explained that there are two large dips along the road between 300th Ave SW and US Highway 75. “This year, with us being one person down in the county as far as our maintenance worker, we had to shift people around. We started thinking about what we could do, and we thought, “Let’s work more efficiently to try to save money instead of spending it,” and the one way we could do that was by closing that stretch of roadway,” Polk County Highway Engineer Richard Sanders explained. “We try to be smart with our tax dollars that we get to maintain our roadways, and that stretch of roadway is like a black hole when it comes to winters where we have excess snow and blizzards that blow the snow around, which constantly fills those dips, and we’re constantly snow blowing them to keep them open. This year we decided we’re going to try just closing it and see how it worked and what happens in the spring.” Sanders also noted that the department hopes that if the snow builds over the winter for one of the large dips, it will protect the road from the Red Lake River from backing up over the roadway and flooding the road and having the department have to regravel it in the spring.
With the closing of the highway, the department has given a few alternate routes people can take to travel between Crookston and Fisher. “If you’re coming from Fischer on CSAH 61, you’re going to be sent north on 300th Ave up to Trunk Highway 2. On Trunk Highway 75, if you were to go west on 61, you’re going to run into a Road Closed sign about one mile west of 75, so you’ll have to turn around and come back,” Sanders explained. “So, we’re just telling people to use Trunk Highway 2 to get between Fisher and Crookston. CSAH 61 will be maintained from 300 Ave and west of Fischer, but it’s closed between 300th Ave and Trunk Highway 75 in Crookston.” Sanders noted that one property owner was affected by the closing and that the department is clearing half a mile of the highway near 295th Ave SW to a township road to Highway 2 to be able to leave their property.
With this experimentation on CSAH 61, the highway will be closed until the end of the winter and will reopen the road when the snow melts, hopefully in March. During that time, the Highway Department is continuing its maintenance for the snow and road quality for other County State Aid Highways. “All of our other roads are open. We’re maintaining those, and we’re hoping that we don’t have to close anymore. Our County State Aid Highways, we try not to close, but since CSAH 61 is so close to Trunk Highway 2, it only made sense to do it, and we will continue to do the work that we’re supposed to do.”
A map of the highways and what parts are plowed and closed can be found below-
CSAH 61
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