Roundabout Construction Begins On Division St. In Bemidji

A section of Division Street near Bemidji High School has officially been closed to prepare for three new roundabouts.

The high school intersection will be 100% closed to traffic. All the traffic coming through the corridor will be redirected to the Adams Ave. intersection. The roundabouts are meant to improve traffic flow in response to the new Gene Dillon Elementary School that will be opening up this fall.

Beltrami County Engineer Bruce Hasbargen says, “Roundabouts are for improving the traffic flow. We’re gonna have some additional traffic on Division with the new school that’s coming out there – the Gene Dillon Elementary School and along with the traffic we’ve got out there, and so we just needed to improve those intersections for traffic flow and roundabouts help with that. They’re safer than traditional single light intersections so we’re building three roundabouts.”

The roundabout project is expected to be finished by the start of school in the beginning of September.