(Spirit Lake)– Area motorists will need to plan accordingly Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of next week. RAGBRAI is expected to bring tens of thousands bicyclists into Milford this coming Sunday afternoon, July 20th. Trooper Kevin Krull of the Iowa State Patrol…
“The afternoon hours, A-34 coming into Milford on Sunday is going to be a busy road. It probably would be a good road to avoid unless you want to see a lot of bikes.”
The riders will spend Sunday night in Milford before departing the following morning, Monday, July 21st, northbound on Highway 86…
“The ride is open from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night. Now again, there will be riders that get up because depending on the weather, they’ll get up and there will be bikes on the road probably by 5:00 in the morning. There won’t be that many but there will be some bikes out moving on the road and the route somewhere around 5:00, 5:30 usually. The big push usually starts about 6:00, 6:30 and then, probably I’m guessing, it’s just a guess, but usually by 9:00 most of the riders are on the route and rolling. They’ll have to be out of Wahpeton, or we’re going to suggest them to be out of Wahpeton area by noon, but that’s not very far down the road so. Realistically, Highway 86 is going to be, that early morning hours, is going to be tough to be driving on.”
Trooper Krull adds there will be some hard traffic closures on Highway 86 in the Wahpeton area the morning of Monday, July 21st…
“So if you’re wanting to get into or out of Wahpeton area it’s going to be open at Edgewood Drive. There will be an officer standing down there assisting motorists to get onto Highway 86 and then also into that area. With the bike traffic and heavy activity up there, found it just to be safer to put everybody in the one spot as far as motoring public that way it will help on that aspect and manpower wise we can’t man every intersection. With that being said, just north of there a couple of roads that probably don’t carry a lot of traffic but if you happen to be on 175th or 180th Street, those roads are going to be some soft closures. We’re going to ask people to go up through Village West. There will be, on 170th, there will be an officer standing out there doing some traffic control and again aiding the motoring public to get into that area and out of that area.”
It should be noted that LOCAL LAKESHORE TRAFFIC ONLY (from Village West south to the Yacht Club) will be allowed through the Village West area.
From there the ride will proceed north to Vick’s Corner, the intersection of Highways 9 & 86, another area where Krull says there will likely be backups and delays. The route continues northbound on Highway 86 and will cross about two miles into Minnesota before turning east on Jackson County Road 4. Krull says the Iowa State Patrol will hand off its duties to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol. He says there likely will be traffic interruptions at the intersection of Highway 71 and Jackson County Road 4, about a mile and-a-half north of the Iowa-Minnesota border. The route will continue east of there on Jackson County Road four before dropping south on Jackson County Road 25 and crossing back into Iowa on Dickinson County Road N-16, to Superior where it will turn east onto Highway 9…
“We’re going to encourage most of the bicyclists to be out of Superior by 5:00, so that way late afternoon, that afternoon hour to late afternoon/early evening, Highway 9 is going to be one of those that you’re going to want to avoid, probably take a different route if at all possible. There’s some good opportunities or good avenues to take: N-14 down to A-22 if you need to take a detour, because they’re only going to be on Highway 9 a short time but that short time could still be an inconvenience for ‘ya.”
The riders will depart Estherville Tuesday morning…
“When they leave Estherville they are going to be on Highway 9 and they’re going to take Highway 9 clear across to Armstrong, actually all the way to Swea City, but Armstrong will be their first stop along the way, there, their first town will be Armstrong and we’re going to ask the bicyclists to be out of Armstrong by noon on Tuesday. So that Tuesday morning hour Highway 9 east of Estherville is going to be a road that you’re going to want to avoid unless you’re wanting to share it with a bunch of bicyclists again.”
Krull adds that even though it is NOT on the official RAGBRAI route, there likely will still be riders making their way into the lakes corridor and Spirit Lake Sunday. He urges everyone to be patient and to take alternate routes if possible.
