Highway 61 reconstruction

Letter: Place-making can set Lake City apart

Mar 9, 2017

To the editor: Everyone in Lake City knows at some level that place making is important to our community – you just may not know that term. Think of the former Big Bear property on Lakeshore Drive. Nobody thinks that the way that property looks is good for our community. When we find a great...

Council Highway 61 work session is Monday

Mar 3, 2017

A council work session on the plan to reconfigure Highway 61 through Lake City will cover safety, aesthetics, traffic volume, and pavement lifespan, according to an agenda posted on the city website Thursday. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will present a crash history of Highway...

Letter: City crews restored streets, power in no time

Mar 2, 2017

To the editor: Thank you to the Lake City Street Department and crew for the great job they did on the cleaning and removing the snow from our streets in last Friday’s snow storm. It was the most snowfall in one storm in over 20 years. Our streets were clean and safe and in no time they had the...

Letter: Seize the opportunity to reshape Lake City's future

Mar 2, 2017

To the editor: Every fifty years or so a really important matter comes up in almost every community. Lake City is at that crossroads, and since I’m on the subject of roads, I’d like to talk about the highway that runs through our fine city. It’s very important that Lake City gets it right...

Hwy. 61 work session rescheduled

Feb 27, 2017

A City Council work session meeting to investigate the potential conversion of the four-lane segment of Highway 61 in Lake City to three lanes will be Monday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. This is a change from the Feb. 27 date discussed by the council at its Feb. 13...

Council sets time table for Highway 61 decision

Feb 16, 2017

The Lake City City Council agreed Monday night on a timeline proposed by Mayor Mark Nichols for gathering information and ultimately voting in April on whether to convert the four-lane portion of Highway 61 in the city to three lanes. Nichols told the council that waiting would give them time to...

Mayor: Council is doing its homework

Feb 16, 2017

To the editor: I am following up on my last letter where I stated that, “competent due diligence builds leadership partnerships.” Simply put, if your team does its homework, the team will make good grades. Our council is doing its homework on a number of important initiatives and I believe the...

Letter: It's time to reverse three-lane decision

Jan 25, 2017

To the editor: I’m on the Lake City Streets and Parks Commission and at the last meeting on Jan. 17, the Hwy. 61 issue was brought up and Scott Jensen of public works made the statement that the city staff was moving forward on the project. I asked what that was and he said the direction that the...

2016 Year in Review: Long-term development taking shape

Dec 29, 2016

Planning for Lake City’s future, including plans for Highway 61 and for the waterfront and downtown areas, took up a lot of focus throughout 2016 but as those plans were being mulled major public developments began to take shape. The Lake City Public Library moved back home in January, following a...

Torch: Three lanes - A student perspective

Dec 22, 2016

A huge debate lately has been over converting the current four lanes, on Highway 61, to two lanes with one turning lane. According to the Post-Bulletin, the Lake City City Council voted on the three lanes and a 5-2 vote resulted. [Editor’s note: The city council voted 5-2 on Dec. 12 to send a...