Southern Minnesota drivers know the stretch of road well.
Right where the Jolly Green Giant billboard sits grinning on a hill, US Hwy. 169 descents from the prairie to the wooded lowlands below Le Sueur.
Unlike vast swaths of the agricultural region, the highway here slopes up to the wavy blue ribbon of the Minnesota River, which can picturesquely reach almost to motorists’ eye level during the wet months.
It is both a natural wonder and an enemy. Tornadoes rip through the valley. Ice can cake narrow roads. And then there’s the rain, which can turn this seemingly tamed waterway into a monster roaming the hills.
Over the years, the Minnesota River (and nearby roads) have flooded many times. The years are like notches in a doorway: 1965, 1993, 2019.
As is often the case, portions of U.S. Highway 169 north of Mankato and St. Peter are closed downstream through Le Sueur and near Henderson.
But earlier this century, government officials invested millions in a renovation of Hwy. 169, including lifting a 100-foot steel bridge spanning south-central Minnesota’s mightiest waterway outside Le Sueur.
The hope was that the roadway could withstand even a once-in-a-century flood. Critical traffic carrying emergency vehicles, grain carts or even visitors entering or leaving the Twin Cities may not need to divert to alternate routes or cancel trips altogether.
But then came the floods of 2024.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the highway between Le Sueur and St. Peter will remain closed for the second day in a row.
Inside an Air National Guard hangar in St. Paul on Tuesday, after ejecting from a helicopter following an air tour that Gov. Tim Walz and sen. Amy Klobuchar Hovering above the endangered Rapidan Dam southwest of Mankato, and the dramatic flooding of homes in Waterville, Walz noted that those charged with rebuilding structures, after providing safety for residents, must deal with a new normal over extreme, climactic events.
“If I remember correctly, the engineers built [that bridge over the Minnesota River] for a 500-year flood,” Walz said. ‘That was 14 years ago. So the 500-year flood came in 14 years.”
The low steel bridge, which opened in 2008, was built to withstand a century-long flood, government officials said.
Yet it is far from the only road that is flooded. On Tuesday, the bridge on Highway 93 to Le Sueur was underwater.
“That bridge deck has never been completely submerged underwater in its history,” said Joe Roby, Le Sueur city manager. “That’s one of the few east-west river crossings between Mankato and Chaska.”
Flooding is a geography lesson on a region’s interconnected river and transportation system – and a sleepless exercise for workers. On Wednesday, Minnesota Department of Transportation crews had opened one northbound lane on Hwy. 169, as crews pumped water onto the highway.
From his home, Roby continued to watch in amazement. Just a few months ago, when the state was deep in drought, he said his six-year-old daughter could throw a rock across the Minnesota River.
At another news conference on Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan acknowledged the traffic block as a public safety necessity.
“I also know it can be inconvenient when 169 is closed,” Flanagan said. “But it’s really important that people who follow detours stay safe and don’t drive through water.”
“[U.S.] “169 is a huge trade corridor,” Roby said. “There are a tremendous amount of people and goods and services that depend on the metro, from Iowa or the Mankato area, or Worthington or South Dakota. It’s really extraordinary.”
And a changing climate means better preparation for these natural forces, in an increasingly extreme climate.
During Tuesday’s press event, Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke about efforts to mitigate flooding in Duluth and Austin due to extreme water damage to homes and businesses.
“We know we can save communities in the event of future flooding[s] if we do something preventive now,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar even noted that her own husband and daughter were stymied in their efforts to visit the in-laws in Mankato.
But like other Minnesotans currently accustomed to this passage, they will have to patiently wait out this midsummer lull before the river slowly returns to its former banks.
“When you see all the water,” Klobuchar said, “you understand what’s going on.”
