MnDOT to Reconstruct Highway 24 Interchange at I-94 in Clearwater Starting 2026

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Department of Transportation has two major construction projects that will disrupt traffic starting in the spring.

Crews will reconstruct the Highway 24 interchange at Interstate 94 in Clearwater, a project that includes building a new bridge and installing three roundabouts to improve traffic flow.

The $24 million project is scheduled to begin in mid-summer 2026 and take two years to complete. The reconstruction will build a new Highway 24 bridge over I-94 southeast of the current structure and reconstruct Highway 24 from Wright County Road 145, also known as 179th Street, which is the intersection where Kwik Trip stands, to Smith Street just north of the Clearwater Travel Plaza.

MnDOT plans to install two roundabouts at the I-94 westbound and eastbound ramps, plus a teardrop-style roundabout at Highway 24 and County Road 145. The project will also create new road approaches at Ash Street and Nelson Drive.

The concrete sidewalk along southbound Highway 24 and the multi-use trail along northbound Highway 24 between County Road 145 and County Road 75 will be expanded. The work will connect with Wright County’s separate roundabout project at Highway 24 and County Road 7, just south of Kwik Trip.

Drivers should expect lane and shoulder closures, narrow lanes, lane shifts, and reduced speeds throughout the work zone. When crews need to close Highway 24 overnight at I-94 for bridge work, traffic will detour along County Road 75 through Clearwater, County Road 8 through Hasty, and County Road 39 back to Highway 24 north of Annandale.

The main construction on Highway 24 and the new bridge will last through fall 2026. In spring and fall 2027, crews will reconstruct the road surface, medians, on and off ramps, roundabouts, side street approaches, the multi-use trail, and storm drainage structures before removing the old bridge.

Wright County will separately construct a new roundabout on Highway 24 and County Road 7 in Clearwater in 2026, though the schedule has not yet been determined, and funding has not been secured. That work may include narrow lanes with no shoulders on Highway 24 and a possible detour of County Road 7 access.

The ongoing Gap Project on I-94 between Monticello and Albertville will ramp up as soon as crews can dig in. Westbound lanes were completed last fall. Work on the eastbound lanes is next. That will consist of adding a lane, building ramps at County Road 18, and constructing noise walls.

That work should wrap up by next fall.

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