BEMIDJI — More roundabouts could be in Bemidji's future as the City Council mulls municipal consent for the state's plans to transform the Paul Bunyan Drive corridor.
The initial Minnesota Department of Transportation proposal for six roundabouts along the northwestern side of Highway 197 was rejected by a split vote in late 2019. The rejection came after numerous businesses along the corridor voiced objections to the project that would have eliminated several left-hand turns with median barriers.
MnDOT went back to the drawing board, rebuilding project committees that included business and community stakeholders. MnDOT’s Matt Upgren presented to the City Council during a Sept. 16 public hearing, requesting consent for a project that would replace three signals with roundabouts around Bemidji’s big box stores: the Menard’s entrance, Middle School Drive and Hannah Avenue.
Upgren said more than 30 businesses were interviewed from 2018 through 2021 to tailor this project to the community’s needs.
“There has been significant dialogue on this project spanning many years that far exceeds the typical approach that MnDOT would take to a road project in a given city,” Upgren said.
“We are proud of the work and effort that we have put into this and are thankful to the folks who have rolled their sleeves up and weighed in on this important planning process.”
During the public hearing, one of the citizen committee members and bicycling enthusiast Mur Gilman spoke about how difficult it currently is to access the corridor.
“I left my truck at Toyota and I walked down that horrible — I'm sorry, but horrible — sidewalk along the mall and Super 8, then tried to navigate across Hannah with the walk light that didn't work, and I can't imagine if I had to do that every day,” Gilman said.
“One of the things that I really appreciate about this is that there is a big space — 20 feet more or less — and whatever the road right of way is alone that separates that multimodal person from the cars that are going 35 and 45 mph. And that's a huge improvement.”
In anticipation of this major 2026 road project, MnDOT and the city have pursued grants to rebuild the access streets around the project area, with smaller projects planned in 2025 for Hannah Avenue and Middle School Drive.
In a motion that passed 6-1, the council voted to revisit granting municipal consent for a future meeting, with council members such as Mayor Jorge Prince welcoming additional citizen input on the proposal.
"We are talking about fundamentally changing the entrance to our city for decades, so we're being asked to do that with 30% of the information and so that causes me a certain amount of hesitation as well,” Prince said. “This is going to be an interesting one as to where everybody sits here, I have to tell you, I've had a lot of citizen feedback and it hasn't been in favor.”
The Bemidji City Council’s next regular meeting is Monday, Oct. 7.
