Highway 197 Project in Bemidji on Hold Due to President Trump’s Grant Freeze

Back in early December, the Bemidji City Council approved plans for reconstructing Highway 197 along with other major city streets, thanks to help from a RAISE Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. But those plans are now on hold due to President Trump’s federal grant freeze.

Since the approval of the Highway 197 project in December, the Bemidji City Council and staff members were looking to have construction start in May of this year. Now, there is no timetable as to when the project can begin.

“At the federal level, the RAISE grant, which is allocated to us, is actually currently frozen and in review,” explained Bemidji City Engineer Sam Anderson at a work session on Monday. “This kind of comes from some of that stuff we’ve maybe heard on the radio. I don’t know if specifically Elon Musk is holding it at gunpoint, but in theory, it’s just stuck.”

Some members of the council showed frustration with the federal grant freeze.

“I have to say, it is very frustrating to hear about an unelected billionaire making decisions like this that affect our communities,” said Ward 1 councilor Gwenia Fiskevold Gould.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was going to cover the cost of the reconstruction of Highway 197, while the city was going to pay for the addition of roundabouts on Middle School Drive and Hannah Avenue. The freezing of the RAISE grant means that MnDOT can’t continue their part of the project until that funding becomes available, leaving the city with two options.

“Option one is just delaying the project one year,” said Anderson. “And when I say one year, it’s us moving back from ’25 to ’26 and MnDOT moving from ’26 to ’27.” adds Anderson.

There is some risk to that option, though.

“There’s a chance that the RAISE grant could disappear,” Anderson added.

That essentially means that the Highway 197 project goes away entirely. But there is a second option that would use state funding to at least construct one roundabout on Middle School Drive during the delay.

Anderson continued, “There’s a theory that if that state money would stick with the project, if MnDOT can fund a bulk of it themselves, we could use that state money to pay for our local match.”

Ward 2 council member Josh Peterson mentioned that the city-funded side of the project wasn’t initially part of the plan as a whole.

“If we were to wait and let’s say we do lose – the RAISE grant does goes away, we’re not out anything,” says Peterson. “We’re not inhibiting additional public safety or anything because this was not anything that we had our plans already preset on.”

However, by the end of the meeting, all of the councilors were in agreement to at least start with the addition of a roundabout on Middle School Drive during the summer break and to wait and see what happens with the RAISE grant.

“I probably agree with the majority of the council I’ve heard thus far that this is probably the best alternative out of not-the-best alternatives, so I would support that option two as well,” said Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince.

Mayor Prince also added that he would like to see council members reach out to representatives in St. Paul to discuss the situation and see what else can be done.