Polk County Highway Department - Minnesota

07/28/2026

With midsummer corn reaching full height, navigating country roads can require extra caution. The height of the corn significantly obstructs visibility at intersections, creating blind spots that can lead to devastating crashes. Never rely on indirect indicators that another vehicle may be approaching like dust during the day or headlights at night. Dust clouds during the day can be misleading, headlight beams don't always cut through thick corn at night and never count on another driver seeing you or stopping.

Quick Tips:
• Treat every blind corner as a stop: Even at uncontrolled intersections with no signs, come to a complete stop before pulling out.
• Double-check, don't assume: Stop even if the side road has a stop sign – the other driver's view of the sign (or your vehicle) might be obstructed.
• Never guess: Stop and scan both directions, even if you think the road is empty.

Whether you're walking, biking, on a motorcycle or ATV, in your car or driving farm equipment, always stop at the corners. Together, we can drive Minnesota toward zero deaths.

07/08/2026

It has finally happened. USDOT has awarded a 24 million dollar Grant to Norman County for the replacement of the Neilsville, Hendrum and Georgetown Bridges over the Red River of the North.
This is great news for the residents of Polk, Norman and Clay County MN and Traill and Cass County ND. Looking forward to working with the other counties to get them designed and constructed ASAP.

07/07/2026

CN Railroad will be closing CSAH 1 in Winger to do crossing maintenance. The road will be closed July 20th thru July 24th. Polk County Highway will set up a detour as shown. Please use the detour route instead of the adjacent township roads.

06/04/2026

As part of Polk County Highways safety solutions. Please share your input.

We’re planning for a safer, more walkable and bikeable future in Polk County — and we’d love your input! 🚶🚲

Whether you walk, bike, roll, drive, or simply care about safer streets and better connections in our community, your feedback can help guide future improvements.

Take a few minutes to complete the Active Transportation Plan survey and tell us what matters most to you.

👉 https://forms.office.com/g/Q7biLcXTw1

Thank you for helping shape the future of our community!

02/28/2026

Polk County Highway Department - Minnesota received the Roads and Bridges Award for Hot in Place Recycle on their County State Aid Highway 9 from the Red River of the North to US Route 75 in Crookston, MN. The award was presented at the 2026 AEMA-ARRA-ISSA Annual Meeting.

Presenting the award was Gavin Jenkins, Senior Managing Editor for Roads and Bridges. Donn Johnson, Dustrol, Inc. was also presented a plaque. The CSAH 9 project will be featured in March’s edition of Roads and Bridges.

01/19/2026

Fisher Ave (CSAH 11) in Crookston is now open to traffic.

01/17/2026

With the snow and wind, we can't keep up and are pulling equipment off of Fisher Ave. (CSAH 11) from Caseys to the arena. So this stretch of roadway is closed to traffic. So please don't drive this stretch of roadway as you will get stuck and won't be able to get pulled out until the wind dies down. Which sounds like Monday morning.

11/29/2025

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has closed the bridge on TH 75 in Climax, MN. There is no good route around this bridge to save yourself time other than the signed detour route. Better to stay on the detour and spend 5 extra minutes than get stuck or lost trying to get around on the gravel/dirt township roads.

10/15/2025

The Polk County Highway Department wishes to inform all residents that “Depositing mud on the road is an offense under the Highways Act”. It is the legal responsibility of the farmer to ensure that every precaution is taken to avoid mud being carried off the field on to the roads. It is understood that some mud will inevitably end up on the roadways during harvest. It is essential that the farmer make arrangements to remove it immediately. Violation of this act is considered a misdemeanor.

Polk County also cautions that the act of depositing mud onto a County Highway can subject a person to a civil liability if a road hazard occurs and causes a traffic accident. The civil liability can extend to both the property owner and the person who actually placed the mud on the roadway. All citizens are asked to obey these rules, which are designed to keep our highways safe during harvest.

08/27/2025

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will be replacing the crossing on CSAH 4 at the North end of Lengby, MN starting September 16, 2025. Polk County will be signing a detour. The map is shown below. The detour for CSAH 4 Northbound will go West and North on CR 201 to USTH 2 and then East back to CSAH 4. Southbound will be just the opposite. The crossing is expected to be reopened on September 20, 2025, weather dependent.