Bemidji City Council to Reconsider Highway 197 Project After Voting Against It

After initially voting against municipal consent for a reconstruction project along Highway 197 in Bemidji, the city council is planning to reconsider the project at a meeting later this month.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Highway 197 reconstruction project has been a major source of discussion for the city since 2019, when an initial plan was shut down by the council at that time. At Monday’s city council meeting, a public hearing was held regarding an update on those plans, allowing local residents to voice their opinions on it.

The project would affect one of the busiest streets in Bemidji for close to two years.

“MnDOT has involved the Bemidji City Council, the Bemidji business community, and many, many other stakeholders and roadway users as we navigated the needs, solutions, and plans for this corridor,” said Matt Upgren, MnDOT Highway 197 Project Manager, during the meeting.

The hearing started with questions or comments from the council, where Ward 2 Councilor Josh Peterson mentioned his concerns over the lack of barrier walls with the roundabout being so close to the Super 8 hotel next to Hannah Avenue.

“There have been roundabouts in the state where a barrier is necessary, but that’s where we’re talking less than half the distance from the roundabout, about what we are talking here with Super 8 in proximity,” explained Upgren. “We don’t want to see a car leave the roadway and strike the building. I guess anything’s possible, but at this time it didn’t rise to the level where we saw a need for it.”

Other council members who were part of those initial 2019 talks said that you have to trust the research and the people behind that research.

“If this is not going to cost taxpayer dollars, hopefully anything, so that is very, very good news, especially with the scope of this project,” said Ron Johnson, Ward 3 Councilor.

Members of the public who chose to speak before the council were for the most part in support of the project, but had a few concerns about it.

“I just quickly added up the tax base that comes from those businesses that are near the roundabout – $1.5 million, so the city gets 40% of that.” says Scott Turn, Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.

“Giving municipal consent on a plan that it’s only 30% in play here scares the crap out of me as a business owner,” admitted Lueken’s Village Foods President Craig Little.

When it came to voting for project, some members of the council felt that MnDOT may have trapped the city in a corner.

“Because if I don’t vote ‘yes’ for this, then I’m basically putting the city in a financial situation, and so then it doesn’t really become just solely about, is this the best intersection? Is this what the citizens of Bemidji want?” said Mayor Jorge Prince.” Now it starts becoming weighted by a financial decision, and we’ve heard many of my fellow council members speak to that.”

With a vote of 4-3, municipal consent for the Highway 197 project failed. Due to the language of the motion from Ward 5 Councilor Lynn Eaton, the council initially voted to terminate the project, but after further discussion, the council decided to consider to project again at their next meeting on October 7th.

Correction 9-18-24: This story originally said the Bemidji City Council will consider the Highway 197 project again on September 30th when it will actually be discussed on October 7th. We have updated our story to reflect the correct date.