Stearns County Invests $27 Million in Road Upgrades This Spring

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- As the days start to get longer, it means pothole season starts arriving, and road construction season isn't far behind.

Stearns County is planning for 35 miles of resurfacing projects in 2026, mostly in rural areas. The next phase of County Road 12 reconstruction northwest of St. Martin will also be completed in 2026.

New Stearns County Engineer Chris Byrd says one project through the St. Cloud Metro Area is County Road 75 signal improvements...

Here in town, maybe one you might see later this year is on County Road 75. We're planning a signal rehab project where we're going to look at all of the traffic signals all of the way from St. Joe down to McStop. (We plan to) rehab some of those signal systems, the poles that are getting to be quite dated, and new wiring, new signal heads, and those kinds of things.

Some of the more significant resurfacing projects include County Road 7 south of St. Augusta, County Road 44 near Clearwater, and County Road 19 and 32 between Lake Henry and Belgrade.

In all, Stearns County is scheduled to complete approximately $27-million in various road construction projects in 2026.