North Wright County Today

Local news for St. Michael, Albertville, Otsego and Hanover

Another County Highway to Close, Snarling Traffic in the STMA Area

County Highway 36, which connects St. Michael to Highway 101, will close for much of 2026. But there's a catch - if you're heading east, you're good to go.

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For some, it’s the “road to Fox Hollow.” For most, it’s a route to Highway 101 and points north via Highway 169.

For now, it’s going to be closed to westbound traffic

Wright County Highway 36 shut down on Tuesday, May 5 as St. Michael and Wright County team up to reconstruction the roadway.

There IS, however, a catch.

Headed east on the county road to get from, say, Kwik Trip off of Highway 241 in St. Michael to get to Highway 101 on the St. Michael/Otsego border?

You can do that.

Westbound traffic will be detoured to Highway 101 and Interstate 94. Two-way traffic will be maintained for local traffic east of Quam Avenue NE and west of Ogren Avenue NE.

Eastbound traffic will have one lane through the area. This will allow Fox Hollow to remain open for the summer and to serve both golfers and diners.

But if you want to head back into St. Michael, you have to follow the detour – head east to 101, south to Rogers, and come back via Interstate 94 (or County 144 to Naber Avenue).

Wright County and the City of St. Michael each received federal funds to upgrade the corridor and bring it up to state aid standards.  The team has been working on developing improvements with a list of several goals that are intended to be met.

Goals:

  • Create a multi-modal corridor, that would include the presence of a separated multi-use path.
  • Relieve safety issues related to the numerous access points.
  • Ensure the design speed of the roadway is appropriate for the land use and functionality of the corridor.
  • Design the project so that it can be built in the Spring/Summer of 2025.
  • Develop a staging plan that limits significant detours.

Linked (best viewing option for mobile devices)  below, you will find:

  • Proposed roadway design options for CSAH 36
  • Maps showing how traffic will be maintained during construction
    • Construction staging: Shows where construction will happen and how vehicles will have access.
    • Westbound detour: Highway 36 will remain open to eastbound traffic. Westbound traffic will be directed to use Highway 101 and I-94.

The detour map is below:

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