 The arrival of spring also means the upcoming arrival of construction. Today in Bacchus, an open house was held to discuss the upcoming Highway 371 project that will affect local residents and businesses. Clayton Castle has that story. If you live or own a business in the Hackensack or Bacchus communities, expect delays and changes in your route to home or work as a $4.2 million full depth reclamation project will shut the highway between Bacchus and Hackensack down to one lane in August, then portions will be shut down completely after Labor Day. At that point, if you have local business within the detour, you'll be able to get there, you'll just have to approach from the north or from the south. Area business owners are concerned about the project and the shutting down of the highway. We're very concerned because they're basically going to shut the road down for at least a full month, so basically we're shut down for a full month. Dan Dean says that many businesses in northern Minnesota depend on this time of year to be financially fruitful to last through the winter. Their success is all predicated on doing a good, you know, robust business through those summer months, and that's where you got to make it. And now with this project they're looking at stripping a good portion of that away. Dean was hoping that MnDOT would find alternatives to the detour, but was told that that would not happen. You know, we were hoping that there would be some way they wouldn't have to shut the entire road down, but apparently that's not the case. MnDOT says that business owners and customers who will be able to access the businesses during the project, it may just take a little longer than normal. Well, actually for all the time, you will be able to get where you're going. Local businesses will always be accessible. That route to whichever business you're going to may change. It just depends on where you're at in the project. Reporting in Bacchus, Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. The official detour of the project begins at Washburn Avenue in Bacchus and follows state highways 87, 64 and 40, which will lead back to Hackensack. The detour adds 23 miles or about 30 minutes of travel to and from Bacchus and Hackensack. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.