MnDOT Holds Open House for Highway 10 Project in Wadena

With major updates in the works for Highway 10, Wadena residents attended an open house last week at the Maslowski Wellness and Research Center to see what the Minnesota Department of Transportation had planned.

Attendees got the opportunity to see the proposed layouts and access points along Highway 10 if it were to be expanded to a 4-lane highway in and around Wadena.

The updates would include changes for vehicle mobility, congestion, and freight movement, along with the addition of J-turns, to make travel safer and hopefully bring down speeds.

With the road set up the way it is now, some business owners expressed concerns over how these updates could affect their profits. Richard Paper, owner of Wadena Hide & Fur Co., said the changes would make the business’s entrance their rear entrance, forcing them to change they way the operate and possibly upset their customers.

For MnDOT, everything is a challenge and takes time. Although they can’t promise everything will be done to the public’s satisfaction, they say they are taking everything into consideration, including feedback received at the open house.

If the highway expansion project moves forward, construction is anticipated to start in 2025. An overview of the project can be found on the MnDOT website.