Walker lies on the southwest coast of Leech Lake providing a community for 1,000 residents year around and thousands of visitors during recreational periods in all four seasons. Highways 371 and 34 provide access from Walker connecting to Bemidji, Brainerd, Detroit Lakes, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe land, Paul Bunyan State Forest, and many other travel destinations. While many trips are regional travel that create congestion, they are crucial to the local economy of Walker. MnDOT is working to establish a vision for both corridors through the study. Once that vision is established, MnDOT will work with the City to identify road projects that will likely include a reconstruction of the downtown between 2029-2030 and a pavement project in the rural segment after the downtown has been completed.

Current corridor conditions:

• Roadway pavement is nearing end of its useful life.
• Peak recreational traffic adds congestion and significant delays.
• Traffic can range from 4,300 to over 12,000 vehicles per day in peak times.
• Fatal and serious injury crashes have increased in recent years south of downtown

During public outreach in the fall of 2023, the following priority areas were identified as the greatest need:

1. Mainline and side street traffic flow
2. Parking/Business Access
3. Safety
4. Pedestrian/Bicycle Access
5. Costs associated with improvements

Based on these priority areas, the project team has developed roadway alternatives for different segments of the corridor. Please take a few minutes to review corridor concepts and rate your preference on each one.