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A sudden turnabout and a last-minute injection of funds allowed Highway 1 to be reopened last week.
Work crews were on site on July 4, and the portion of the highway that had been closed about six miles east of Ely was open to traffic the next day.
“We got funding and we pulled in a few people,” said Kristi Brevik, a regional supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “Emergency funding came in and we were able to utilize that.”
Since June 18, when the E ly area and much o f northeastern Minnesota was pelted by several inches of rain, Highway 1 between Pyhola Road and Little Lake Road has been washed out and a detour had been in place.
As late as July 3, MnDOT officials had said it was unclear when repairs would be made, and motorists had been forced to go through Babbitt and use the Tomahawk Road as a detour.
Frustration with the delays were mounting last week in advance of the July 4 holiday, and State Rep. Roger Skraba (R-Ely) was among those to voice displeasure.
Skraba said he talked to MnDOT officials on July 3 and they were quick to take action.
“I talked to someone that morning and found out that everyone was on vacation,” said Skraba. “Nobody was doing any thing but when they found out they jumped right on it and said they were going to get the parts they needed.”
Skraba added “they started on the morning of the Fourth off July and tore up the road.”
Brevik said that she along with eight MnDOT workers and an engineer were on site.
“We dug down to the sink holes and fixed that an dp ut additional rock and gravel over it,” said Brevik. “We put some blankets in between to keep sediment from going through and maintained flowage. T hen w e p ut a base layer on top of that and packed that down and graded it and opened it up.”
Skraba said he was told by MnDOT that the repairs last week were “a temporary fix.”
“It’s an emergency fix and not the fix,” he said. “They’re still trying to debate what they’re going to do and how they will do it.”
Skraba said that he had heard from “resort owners, dirt movers, EMS people, people that live in Isabella,” about the delays.
“I trust the agencies first,” said Skraba. “They go through this daily I don’t. I usually sit back and let them solve the problem. When it’s not getting solved that’s when I jump in.”
Skraba added that “once (MnDOT) realized nothing was getting done, they jumped on it.”
Local business owner Paul Schurke also shared a story about encountering MnDOT workers at the job site on July 4.
“White Iron residents who hold an annual July 4 “Quadrathlon,” a 12-mile fun run by around the southern half of their lake, were met with a surprise this year,” Schurke said. “With Highway 1 closed, the biking portion of their swim-bikehike- canoe event, they were told that although it was unlikely to reopen till late July, they could trek past the barricade on foot. But when they reached the closure site, they found a dozen MnDOT crew with as many trucks and dozers working hard on a national holiday. The trekkers saluted MnDOT with a group photo at the washout and told the crew that they’d be ‘hometown heroes’ in Ely for getting this crucial highway link opened early.”
