The staging plan presented at Lanesboro's October 19 neighborhood meeting puts the tightest stretch for getting around town first, in spring 2027, at the Elmwood Street and County Road 8 intersection where the Root River State Trail crosses Highway 250. The downtown stage comes after that, and it's set up so people can still walk to storefront doors while Parkway Avenue is torn up.
That order is deliberate. The rest of the schedule follows from it.
What Is Being Rebuilt, and Why Now
The project covers Highway 250 from Highway 16 to the Root River bridge. That's Parkway Avenue North and South plus Ashburn Street East. It's a partnership. MnDOT replaces the pavement, and the City of Lanesboro replaces the utilities underneath.
The utilities are the reason the street can't just be repaved. According to the presentation, the sanitary sewer is the original system, 80 to 100 years old, and mostly vitrified clay pipe that cracks and leaks. Some stretches have a flat grade that can cause backups. The water main dates mostly to the 1950s or earlier, and the 4-inch line serving Little Norway can freeze. City Administrator Mitchell Walbridge told the Root River Current that some utilities date to the 1930s. That same October 13 story reported the project had moved from 2026 to a 2027–28 schedule.
Walbridge explained the two-season approach to the Current this way: "A two-year bid can help with construction costs and keep transparency." The plan is to finish the downtown commercial work in one season and leave the residential edges for the next.
This Winter, Before Any Detour
The first crews to show up won't be the road contractor. Gas, electric and communications lines have to be moved first, and the deck lists those relocations for late fall 2026 and spring 2027. Private utility companies do that work, not the project team. The plan expects no road closures during it, but you may see crews working in sidewalks and along shoulders. MnDOT and the City say they'll pass along the utility companies' schedules once they have them.
So if you see trucks along Parkway in the next few weeks, the rebuild hasn't started early. That's the relocation work. The bigger milestones come over the winter and spring:
- Late February 2027: bid opening.
- Late March to early April 2027: assessments are finalized, based on the bid prices.
- March to April 2027: property owners are asked to document the condition of their property.
- March to April 2027: a preconstruction open house introduces the project's access manager.
The access manager is the person to know. The slides say this role will be "on call" and "on site" at all times, will hand out business cards at the preconstruction meeting, and will send weekly updates through meetings, the website and email. The project also needs permanent and temporary easements, which are being acquired through the federal process, appraisals included. Questions about a specific assessment or easement should go to the City and the project team. Their contact information and email sign-up are on the Lanesboro 250 project site.
The Spring Squeeze at Elmwood Street
The broad project overview says construction starts in summer 2027. The detailed staging slides show the first stage starting earlier, around mid-April. Like the other dates in the deck, that one is listed as approximate.
Stage 1 runs from the Community Center entrance through the County Road 8 intersection. That's where the County Road 8 detour comes in. It starts in Fountain and sends traffic on US 52 to Highway 16. During this stage, the way downtown is Highway 16 to Coffee Street. The plan also points people to parking at Mill Pond and the Ball Fields, with the pedestrian bridge from the Ball Fields over to Coffee Street.
The intersection is also where the plan changes the most. Today the trail crossing there is long and skewed, drivers have poor sight lines, and bikes and pedestrians don't have much room. The new design uses curb bump-outs to shorten the crossing. The slides also flag one change since the last meeting: no flashing beacon at the Root River Trail crossing. Beacons are recommended for the County Road 8 crossing at the Bass Pond parking lot and for two mid-block crossings at the Community Center and park.
The deck says crews will build that intersection to a gravel surface first, specifically to restore access. Around early to mid-June, passenger cars can come back in on the gravel, with Elmwood Street temporarily switched to two-way traffic. The trail crossing reopens, and the passenger-car detour ends. Trucks stay on the detour. That puts the full car detour at roughly two months, from mid-April to early or mid-June.
Why the Downtown Stage Is Built Around Front Doors
Downtown comes second. Stage 2 runs from north of County Road 8 to Kenilworth Avenue, roughly June through October. Several commitments in the deck are written for this stretch:
| Year 1, approximate | Where | How access works |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-April to end of June | Community Center entrance through the County Road 8 intersection | County Road 8 detour via US 52 to Hwy 16; Hwy 16 to Coffee Street; parking at Mill Pond and the Ball Fields; cars return on gravel via Elmwood Street around early to mid-June |
| June to October | Downtown, north of County Road 8 to Kenilworth | Front-door access kept except right at the doorway sidewalk and utility connections; Beacon or Coffee Street stays open for cross traffic; Highway 250 from the north uses Kenilworth; truck detour stays |
| August to October | Kirkwood Street to the Community Center entrance | Truck detour stays; street and utility work in this segment |
Downtown utility work is expected to wrap up by mid to late August. In the Kirkwood segment, it should be done by early to mid-September. That's the payoff of starting at Elmwood Street. Getting cars back into town by June means the downtown work begins after the detour has already ended for regular traffic.
Local businesses are already planning around this. In the Root River Current's October 20 follow-up, Lanesboro Sales Commission owner Joe Nelson said, "We've been through various road projects in the past 40-some years, so we're ready to work with planned detours." Livestock trailers can take Highway 16 to the sale barn on East Coffee Street. Nelson also said his lots a few blocks from downtown might be open to visitors and residents on weekends. Hal Cropp, producing artistic director at the Commonweal Theatre, told the Current the company plans to "run the season as usual" and will share arrival and parking information with patrons.
Some things are less settled. Parkway is the route for the Buffalo Bill Days parade and for Lanesboro Public Schools' Homecoming parade. Lanesboro Arts Executive Director Kara Maloney told the Current that Art in the Park, held each June in Sylvan Park, would stay flexible because of "unpredictable construction timelines." Arts staff are lining up alternate locations and partners. No changes to specific 2027 events have been announced.
The Chamber's message is simple. Executive Director Joe Goetzke told the Current:
"We want to communicate with visitors to know that Lanesboro is still open and everyone should still come as the trails, river, businesses and more will all be open during the construction project."
Behind that message is Team 250, led by business owner Allie Palmer. "We are working on specific, actionable steps," she told the Current. The group is looking into an in-town mobility service, grant funding and signage, and it's asking for more volunteers.
2028 Leaves Downtown Alone
The second year stays out of downtown. The deck says Year 2 has no County Road 8 detour and no major work between the Community Center and Kenilworth Avenue.
- Ashburn Street, May through September 2028: Highway 250 detours via Highway 30 to County Road 25, Peterson, and then to Highway 16.
- Parkway from Kirkwood to Highway 16, July through October 2028: this covers the southern two blocks, with a detour via Highway 16 to Coffee Street.
Ashburn Street, which has no pedestrian facilities today, gets a sidewalk on one side connecting to the wastewater treatment facility trail.
What the Street Looks Like When the Cones Leave
The finished street has 12-foot travel lanes, the same width as a highway, so trucks and farm equipment fit. It gets new asphalt, concrete curb and gutter, and concrete driveway aprons. Sidewalks will be at least 6 feet wide everywhere and 17 to 18 feet wide downtown, and they'll be ADA compliant. Most current sidewalks aren't. A 10-foot shared-use path will run along the west side of Parkway between Highway 16 and Elmwood Street.
Underground, new PVC sewer mains replace the clay pipe. The inverted siphon serving Little Norway becomes a lift station. A new 8-inch water main will run under the river to Little Norway and the LPU building, and the old 4-inch line across the walking bridge will be abandoned. On the funding side, the Current reported a pending $700,000 federal request and a lead-service replacement opportunity that could bring Lanesboro about $925,000.
If you're in Little Norway, that river crossing could be the biggest change on the list. It replaces the 4-inch line that the project presentation says can freeze and cut off service.
Whether you own on Parkway, Ashburn or in Little Norway, or you're thinking about selling somewhere along the route before or after the 2027 season, I'm glad to talk through how the construction calendar lines up with your plans. Reach out to John Nelson to schedule your free market consultation.
