Highway 61 project shifts to two years of major construction as businesses prepare for long haul
For Hastings businesses along Highway 61, the question surrounding the coming reconstruction project is no longer whether it will be disruptive. The focus now is how businesses, the City of Hastings, the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, can prepare for what has become a much longer project than originally anticipated, while keeping customers, employees and deliveries moving through town. MnDOT officials met with business owners recently to provide an updated timeline, explain how traffic could move during construction and begin working through some of the access issues that will affect properties along the corridor. What had once been discussed as roughly an 18-month undertaking, including advanced work, has now officially become a two-year major construction project in 2028 and 2029. In practical terms, however, Hastings will see work associated with the reconstruction stretch across about five years, beginning with preliminary activity this past summer and continuing through landscaping work planned for 2030.
Kristy Barse of the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce opened the meeting by reminding those in attendance that the business group was created specifically to help businesses stay informed and work together before and during construction. The Chamber, City of Hastings and MnDOT have been meeting with corridor businesses separately from larger public meetings, giving owners an opportunity to ask questions specific to access, deliveries, customers and the economic effects of the project. “This is a business-led group that was formed to work together to stay informed on the upcoming Highway 61 road construction project, and then support each other during the construction,” Barse said. She said the goal is not simply to distribute updates from MnDOT, but to give businesses a way to identify common concerns and decide what kinds of support will be most useful once construction begins.
MnDOT project manager Robert Jones said the project has moved beyond preliminary planning and into final design. The planning and scoping phases are complete, preliminary design has been finished, and the 30 percent plans and project layout have been completed. MnDOT is now approaching the 60 percent design milestone, which officials hope to reach around Nov. 1. From there, increasingly detailed design work will continue toward final plans in 2027. Jones said the project team is close to locking down many of the major design decisions, with the later design stages focused more heavily on details, traffic control and constructability.
The project covers a lengthy portion of Highway 61 through Hastings and includes much more than simply removing pavement and putting down a new road. Planned work includes changes to intersections and medians, new signals, pedestrian improvements, replacement of the deteriorating retaining wall near Todd Field, utility reconstruction, a two-lane roundabout at Highway 316, sidewalks, trails, and stormwater improvements and significant work to maintain access to businesses throughout construction. Some medians are expected to be added or modified at intersections including Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, 19th and 24th streets, while turning movements will also change at other public streets and private driveways. The 10th Street and Highway 55 area will be reconfigured, a new signal is planned at 18th Street and the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 316 will be rebuilt as a two-lane roundabout.
South of Highway 316, the highway will take on a more urban design. Plans call for new curb and gutter, an eight-foot trail on one side of the road, a six-foot sidewalk on the other and new stormwater facilities. The project also includes raised pedestrian crossings in the Highway 316 area. Jones said MnDOT has been evaluating how those crossings work with snowplows, particularly newer equipment, before settling on the final design. The retaining wall near Todd Field is another substantial component. Jones said the existing wall is deteriorating on both sides and beneath the roadway, requiring coordination among MnDOT, the city, Hastings schools and historic preservation officials to develop a replacement.
Some work associated with the project is expected to begin well before the major construction years. Jones said MnDOT planned to remove approximately 30 dead trees along the corridor, while property acquisition near the Highway 316 roundabout is also moving forward. Three homes in that area are expected to be acquired, with demolition anticipated in 2027 as MnDOT prepares the site for future construction. An early work package is also being developed for fall 2027, potentially including demolition, traffic crossovers, temporary signals, tree removal and preparation around the Highway 316 roundabout. The early work would be intended to set up the corridor so the contractor can move more quickly once full reconstruction begins in 2028.
The biggest change businesses heard, however, involved the construction schedule itself. At earlier meetings, officials had discussed completing the primary road construction in a much shorter window. After MnDOT brought its construction manager and general contractor into the design process and began examining staging, utilities and traffic control in greater detail, that timeline changed. Jones said the project is now being planned as two full construction seasons in 2028 and 2029, with early work in 2027 and landscaping in spring 2030. That means the community will see some form of work connected to the project for several years, even though the heaviest road construction will be concentrated in those two main seasons.
The current construction strategy is to rebuild Highway 61 one side at a time while maintaining traffic on the other. Under the plan MnDOT is developing, northbound lanes would generally be reconstructed first, with traffic shifted to the southbound side of the highway. The following year, traffic would shift onto the completed roadway while the opposite side is rebuilt. Additional work through the center of the roadway would follow as necessary. Jones said Highway 61 is expected to remain open to traffic, and businesses are expected to remain accessible throughout the primary construction period. Temporary signals would be installed at key intersections to allow drivers to turn across traffic, and lanes would be configured to preserve turning movements whenever possible.
“It’ll always be open to traffic,” Jones said. “All businesses will have access during the construction, and we’ll work on one side of the road.” Temporary signals are planned at several major intersections, including Fourth Street, 10th Street, Highway 55 and County Road 46. Those signal locations are intended to give motorists places to make controlled left and right turns while the highway is reduced and traffic is shifted. MnDOT is also planning crossovers so vehicles can move from one sidqe of the divided roadway to the other as construction phases change.
Winter conditions add another challenge. Jones said temporary crossovers, signals and traffic controls would be secured at the end of each construction season so traffic could operate in both directions during the winter months while also allowing MnDOT snowplows to maintain the highway safely. The contractor would essentially stabilize the work zone for the winter, keep the route passable and then resume construction when weather allows the following spring.
The concept may sound straightforward on a diagram, but maintaining access to dozens of businesses while reconstructing a major highway is considerably more complicated at the property level. A roughly 20-foot-long project map displayed at the meeting showed the entire corridor and proposed secondary access routes for individual properties. Business owners gathered around the map after the presentation, tracing driveways and side streets and asking how customers, employees and delivery trucks might reach their properties while work is taking place directly in front of them.
City of Hastings representative Ryan Stempski encouraged business owners to study the map closely. The version displayed at the meeting represents an early attempt to work through secondary access, particularly during periods when a driveway must be removed, reconstructed or allowed to cure. “That’s the first draft of that map back there,” Stempski said. “So, if you’re curious of when your closure is up or going on, how am I going to get into businesses with my customers, my employees, my deliveries? That’s the first version of the map.” The purpose of beginning those conversations now, he said, is to identify problems before contractors arrive. “We’re trying to inform folks early so that they can make best decisions for their businesses and know what’s coming, so it doesn’t happen the day of when a contractor’s out with a shovel, ‘Oh my goodness! Now what?’”
Truck traffic may prove to be one of the more difficult pieces of the traffic plan. MnDOT had previously said it did not expect significant detours, but Jones said the agency is reconsidering that approach, particularly for heavy commercial trucks. Keeping large trucks in the same narrowed construction corridor as regular traffic could create additional congestion and safety concerns, but finding alternate routes is difficult because heavy trucks need roads rated to carry their weight. MnDOT is working with Dakota County and the city to identify possible routes that could divert some trucks before they enter Hastings.
Jones said some temporary detours may also be unavoidable around major intersection work, particularly Highway 61 at County Road 46 and possibly Highway 55. Short closures or detours may be necessary while large sections of concrete are removed, poured and cured, although MnDOT is trying to keep those periods as brief as possible. At County Road 46, Jones said the agency is still working through how heavy trucks would move around the work area because many nearby roads are not rated for the same loads. At Highway 55, the sheer size of the intersection presents another staging challenge, although Jones said the goal is to keep at least part of it functioning rather than closing it completely.
Businesses with regular deliveries will still be served, Jones said, although trucks may not reach them using the same routes they use today. “All trucks and all deliveries will be able to come into town, and all deliveries will be able to get to you,” Jones said. “Might not be how they get to you today.” That could mean approaching a business from a side street, rear entrance or neighboring property in some locations. MnDOT officials said those details are exactly why access planning is beginning so far in advance.
Utilities represent another major risk. Highway 61 contains a complicated network of water, sewer, communications and other underground infrastructure, much of which must be relocated, replaced or coordinated with the roadway reconstruction. MnDOT and the city have each brought in utility coordinators, and subsurface surveys have been completed to provide designers with a clearer picture of what lies beneath the roadway. Jones said the project team has also videotaped and mapped underground infrastructure in an effort to reduce conflicts once excavation begins.
Stempski said the intention is to preserve services such as water through temporary or redundant systems while new infrastructure is constructed, tested and placed into service. Jones acknowledged that some disruptions are inevitable on projects of this size, but said extensive coordination is intended to reduce them and provide a rapid response when problems occur. That issue drew particular attention from businesses after one owner described losing internet service for much of a business day during unrelated utility work without advance notice.
Barse said the experience reinforced something the Chamber had heard repeatedly from other communities that have undergone major road reconstruction, businesses benefit from having a local liaison who can quickly connect them with contractors, utilities and government agencies when problems arise. “As I’ve been reaching out to other communities, having someone local that’s not part of a government agency as that business liaison that has connections has been the number one support system,” Barse said. MnDOT will have its own business liaison and construction contacts throughout the project, but Barse said there is value in also having someone local who already understands Hastings businesses and can raise issues quickly.
The Chamber and city have been talking with communities including Chaska and Bemidji about what helped businesses survive major road projects. Three ideas repeatedly surfaced, a local business liaison, customized wayfinding and detour information, and a unified marketing effort encouraging residents and visitors to continue patronizing businesses affected by construction. Barse said Chaska used a retired police chief as its liaison, providing businesses with a local contact who could respond when equipment blocked an entrance or a delivery suddenly could not reach a property. In Bemidji, the Chamber filled that role and met regularly with MnDOT and contractors to address concerns.
Temporary wayfinding signs and more detailed local detour maps could also be important. Barse pointed to previous construction on Highway 316, where customers trying to reach some businesses could follow a marked detour only part of the way before the signage stopped. A locally coordinated system could give businesses and customers clearer information about how to reach different portions of the corridor. The third concept is a community-wide marketing campaign, potentially including a shared website, shopping passport, common logo or other promotion reminding customers that Hastings businesses remain open during construction.
There may be some money available to help put those ideas into practice. Stempski said approximately $75,000 was being proposed through the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority in the city's 2027 budget to assist businesses affected by the project. While that amount would not go far if divided among every business on the corridor, he suggested it could serve as seed money for programs that benefit the entire business community, including signs, advertising, social media campaigns or other shared efforts. If successful, similar funding could potentially be considered in 2028 and 2029. Dakota County's Open to Business program may also provide technical assistance for businesses evaluating how to prepare for construction or make operational decisions during the project.
Money is also a major issue for the highway project itself. Jones said the current construction estimate is approximately $66 million, including nearly $10 million of city and utility work. Current funding sits at approximately $31.6 million, leaving a funding gap of about $33 million. MnDOT is pursuing additional grants, including a potential $20 million funding award and approximately $10 million through the Safe Streets for All program. Decisions on those funding requests are expected around the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.
If the full project cannot be funded, Jones said MnDOT may have to divide construction into segments or reduce portions of the scope until additional money becomes available. Barse pressed MnDOT on whether businesses and property owners would have another opportunity to provide input if major changes are necessary after the 60 percent design milestone. “There’s always time for feedback,” Jones said. “We would love to hear your feedback.” He said MnDOT is already beginning to consider how the project could be scaled back if necessary, but the immediate priority is completing the 60 percent plans, securing municipal consent and continuing preparations for the 2027 early work package.
Jones said MnDOT is also using a construction manager/general contractor approach that allows the contractor to participate in the design process before the final plans are complete. That has allowed the contractor to weigh in on issues such as how the Todd Field retaining wall should be built, how traffic should be staged, where temporary signals belong and which portions of the roadway should be reconstructed first. Jones said the arrangement is helping MnDOT identify constructability problems earlier instead of discovering them after the project has already been bid.
The official schedule currently calls for 100 percent plans to be completed and submitted in September 2027, with the main project expected to be let in January 2028. The early work package could be let in spring 2027, allowing preparatory work to begin later that year. Jones cautioned that many pieces have to come together for the schedule to hold, including funding, right-of-way acquisition, municipal consent and completion of the design.
For business owners, however, the engineering details may ultimately be less important than whether customers can still find their front doors. That is why much of the meeting shifted from highway design to communication, signs, delivery routes, alternate entrances and community marketing. Stempski said the city and Chamber do not want to assume they know what every business will need and are looking for owners to help shape the support system before the first major closures occur.
“We don’t want to, at the City and the chamber, pretend that we know what’s best for all the businesses,” Stempski said. “That’s why this group was formed. We want to hear from all of you.”
For Hastings, the reconstruction will no longer be one difficult construction season followed by a return to normal. The community is now preparing for several years in which some form of Highway 61 work will be visible, beginning with tree removals and property preparation, moving into early construction in 2027, two full seasons of road construction in 2028 and 2029, and finally landscaping in 2030. The road may remain open throughout most of that work, but keeping the businesses alongside it open, visible and accessible will require nearly as much planning as rebuilding the highway itself.