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Isanti County staff say County Road 5 reconstruction is programmed for 2028 after federal funding; city urges faster action
Summary
County highway staff told commissioners federal grant dollars for a County Road 5 reconstruction are programmed for later years but can be accelerated; city officials pressed for moving the work earlier or pairing it with a roundabout project while the county outlined maintenance constraints and interim fixes.
County highway staff told Isanti County commissioners that a federally funded reconstruction of County Road 5 is programmed in the federal plan for later years but staff are exploring options to accelerate the project to 2028 because the roadway has deteriorated.
Justin Ferguson, the county highway presenter, said the federal grant for the segment was earmarked in the federal program and that the county must front costs and seek reimbursement under advanced-construction rules. "The grant funding for the segment of Casaw 5 ... million dollars was actually for fiscal year 2029," Ferguson said, noting staff opted to accelerate planning after inspections showed worsening pavement.
Ferguson also cited traffic counts and design assumptions to explain timing: "The projected ADT for the design was at 12,000 cars a day. That was in 2006. Today, the 2024 ADT is 11,190." He said the roadway was built to handle the traffic volumes and that pavement-management priorities — including crash data, sufficiency ratings and life-cycle timing — guide when full reconstruction is scheduled.
City representatives pushed for an earlier schedule or an alternative financing approach. One city participant, speaking for city leaders, said the road’s condition generates frequent resident complaints and urged moving the work up: "We've been trying to get through and I don't feel like there's anything moving there, and the rest of council agrees." City members proposed pairing the west segment with an already-planned roundabout reconstruction to save cost and disturbance.
County staff said a permanent transfer of the road to the city would not be an easy fix because maintenance funding is calculated on a dollars-per-mile basis under county-state-aid programs and would not cover the full reconstruction cost. They noted the county serves roughly 360 miles of roadway and must prioritize projects across competing needs.
As a short-term response, staff described lower-cost, interim treatments — including more aggressive hot-mix patching, velocity patching and other "band-aid" approaches — that could improve rough segments until full reconstruction. They also said crews would examine opportunities to pair repairs with the contractor work on the roundabout to limit traffic impacts.
No decisions were made; commissioners asked that the highway committee and staff evaluate creative financing options (including whether the city could front some work) and return with more detailed cost and scheduling options. County staff also committed to continuing coordination with the city and to exploring temporary treatments to improve drivability ahead of the major reconstruction.
The county did not set a new construction contract date at the meeting. The next procedural step is a more detailed feasibility review by the highway committee and updated cost estimates and vendor quotes from county staff.
