Paving rehab temporarily closes most of Heartland State Trail

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News Releases
Paving rehab temporarily closes most of Heartland State Trail between Walker and Cass Lake
(Released September 16, 2010)


Most of the Heartland State Trail between Walker and Cass Lake will temporarily close due to construction work aimed at rehabilitating a number of segments along the trail, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said.

The paving work is scheduled to begin this week and will likely continue through Oct. 15. Crews will remove cracked and heaved pavement and replace it with a new bituminous surface.

Also along the trail, crews have completed rehabilitation work on the Kabekona trestle. Replacement of the decking and hand railing will begin soon, and crews will install new decking and handrails on the Swamp Creek trestle. Work will continue through Dec. 1 on replacing the bridge over the Crow Wing River in Akeley.

“Due to the amount of work spread out over various segments of the trail between Walker and Cass Lake, most of that portion of trail will essentially be closed to bicyclists and pedestrians this season,” said Dave Schotzko, area supervisor for the DNR’s Division of Parks and Trails.

The DNR thanks trails users for their patience throughout the construction process. While much of the northern section of the Heartland State Trail is temporarily closed, the longest segments open for hiking and biking include:

The 17-mile segment between Akeley (west of the work being done to replace the bridge over the Crow Wing River) and Park Rapids.
The nine-mile segment between Akeley (east of the bridge work) to Walker.
When all construction work is finished, the trail will feature one replaced bridge, two rehabbed bridges, and 5.2 miles of trails that have been fixed in 32 places, ranging in length from 20 feet to 5,320 feet.

One additional bridge - the trestle near the Steamboat public water access, seven miles south of Cass Lake - will be rehabbed in 2011.

All of the paving and much of the bridge work is funded by Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment dollars.