The Daily Dispatch

Wilkin County Commissioners approved a motion Thursday that funnels $85,000 of state funding into a mile-long bike path.

The 8-foot wide path will start at County Road 12 and connect a bike trail at the former Breckenridge Dam site, allowing it to continue into town, said Wilkin County Highway Engineer Tom Richels.

"We are going to prepare a plan and obtain quotes to do this shoulder-widening hopefully within the next two months," he said, adding the department's goal is to open the bike path to the public by Oct. 1.

Initially, the highway department planned for a bicycle and pedestrian attachment to the bridge, but the state's bridge engineer incorporated other ideas that drove up the price to $200,000, said Richels.

"They wanted the bridge to be a stand-alone bridge, rather than attached," he said. "As he kept changing the design, it got more and more expensive."

Once the bike path is in place, the department will hold off on a walkway until usage is determined. At first, the state believed enough funding would be available to do the whole project, but the county didn't know if that was a good expenditure of taxpayer money, said Richels.

"But if we don't do anything at all, then we lose $85,000," he said. "That's a good incentive to do it."

Richels also discussed the impact of the underpass on U.S. Highway 75 near Kent, Minn., that has been closed since the March flood. Earlier this month, representatives from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Detroit Lakes, said work was delayed due to the department's search for a contractor.

But as the shutdown has rerouted traffic on other Wilkin County roads, the highway department wants an overlay on the stretch of road through Kent, said Richels.

"And if they don't do it, our roads aren't available in the future to detours," he said. "We give them permission to put the detour on our road." In the past seven years, he estimates the road has been closed off six or seven times.

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