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The Minnesota Department of Transportation and its consultants have completed a study for the segment of Highway 8 from Chisago City to Taylors Falls. The study began in August 2024 and will be useful as a reference for future projects until, and including, resurfacing the entire route in 2033.  In fact, there are maps and descriptions of improvements estimated even 20 years from now, but the study text is quick to note that “Some strategies may align with MnDOT’s planned 2033 pavement project while others will need more study, coordination or funding.”

The process of doing this study is for identifying safety, mobility and access needs along the 14.5 mile long segment.  It also looks at non-motorized uses along the corridor and how best to coordinate those.  The highway has dozens of intersections where recreational activities may conflict with traffic. The study contains recommendations for quite a few round-abouts to replace existing semaphore and direct access points.  In the zero to five years from now category; there will be a roundabout at Karmel Avenue and others proposed at Lofton/Old Towne and Sportsman’s Drive.  Later the transportation department proposes roundabouts at Shoquist, County Road 14 and Irene — all in Lindstrom.

The statistics for physical injury crashes and property damage incidents show that in the past five years 70 percent of the incidents happened at intersections and two were fatalities.  In total there were 395 crash incidents documented on the segment under study.

As a two-lane highway for the most part, Highway 8 is at or beyond the daily traffic count that calls for a study for improvements.  Starting at the traffic counter in Chisago City at 14,700 trips to the 18,000 in the one-way pairs section of Lindstrom to east of Center City, where it drops off to about 11,000 trips (counts were made on non-high seasonal weekends) the corridor is carrying a good amount of vehicles, plus MnDOT notes in the study Highway 8 is an important arterial for inter-state commerce as well.

At this point, the study is without any timelines and does not project funding for any of the concepts proposed. 

The full report is on line at talk.dot.state.mn.us/hwy-8-chisago-taylorsfalls.  

Meanwhile, the beginning step in reconstruction of Highway 8,  from Forest Lake to Karmel Avenue in Chisago City,  is on track for a 2027 start.

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