Cook County discusses Gunflint Trail upgrade, Safe Streets task force and $3 million secured for federal grants

Robbie Haas, Cook County’s county engineer, told the Committee of the Whole the Gunflint Trail project is expected to cost about $15,000,000 and that the county has secured about $3,000,000 so far from three federal grants. He said the project would “resurface 10 miles of roadway, replace over a dozen deficient and undersized culverts, and strengthen areas of the road where too much deterioration has occurred.”

The county framed the work as primarily an emergency-access and resilience project. In a brief video presented to the board, a narrator said the project would “improve emergency access to the Boundary Waters and create a more resilient wildfire evacuation route,” and that the improvements would serve recreation, tourism and emergency responders across more than 200,000 acres near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Why it matters: staff and commissioners said the Gunflint Trail is a single-access artery for much of the area and that its condition affects emergency response, tourism-dependent local businesses and long-term infrastructure resilience. Haas noted the project’s scale means staged construction depending on future funding: “Whether it’s 10 miles or 5 miles, kinda depends on how much more money we keep getting.”

Funding and next steps: Haas described three federal sources contributing to the $3,000,000 the county has secured, naming the PROTECT program, the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) and Surface Transportation Block Grant Program funds that flow through district allocations. Board members discussed coordinating letters of support through regional partners such as the Northeast Minnesota Area Transportation Partnership and asked staff to distribute a single-page legislative handout for state-level meetings and more detailed backup materials for staff and legislators.

Messaging and outreach: Commissioners provided specific feedback on the draft video and outreach materials. Suggestions included adding brief on-camera testimonials from first responders and outfitters, placing the emergency-access point earlier in the narrative, and using succinct statistics that resonate with metro-area legislators and decision-makers. Staff said templates prepared by Larkin Hoffman are drafts and will be edited for different audiences before being shared with partners and legislators.

Board direction: commissioners tentatively identified two county representatives for the Safe Streets for All/County Road Safety Plan task force (Commissioner Gamble and Commissioner White, with Commissioner Sullivan as an alternate) and asked staff to finalize representation, meeting cadence (quarterly) and membership criteria so the county can participate in SS4A and use the CRSP to pursue further funding.

The county’s next work steps include finalizing the lobby/one-pager materials, circulating draft bill language prepared by Larkin Hoffman and continuing outreach to legislators and regional partners ahead of the 2028 construction season.