Byway enthusiasts await word on national designation

Site markers are going up and new directional signage will be installed by the end of the summer marking the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway.

That's the anticipated timeline, according to the Crow Wing County Highway Department. The Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway Association is most appreciative of the department's support.

The signage is an important step in preparing everything along the 54-mile byway route as the PBSBA board and members await official word from the Federal Highway Administration's secretary, Norman Mineta, regarding their bid for national designation. The Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway is currently a state-designated route, receiving its official state designation in June 1998.

During July, a panel of seven experts from outside the U.S. Department of Transportation will provide an independent assessment of the nomination materials submitted by the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway Association in February. Fifty-five other byway route applications from across the nation were submitted.

In mid-September, Mineta will announce his selection of routes to receive national designation. A two-day designation event Sept. 21 and 22 will be held in Washington, D.C.

In a June 29 letter to Byways, Rob Draper, director of the National Scenic Byways Program, said, "Immediately following the (designation) event, the www.byways.org Web site will go live with Web pages for each newly designated byway. New byways will have immediate national and international exposure as part of the great America's Byways collection of distinct and diverse roads designated by the U.S. secretary of transportation."

Local byway enthusiasts who have been enjoying the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway route over the past eight years can watch the preparation unfold as each week passes and new site marker signs appear in various locations along the route.

Most recently the signage was installed at the DNR fire tower, Veteran's Walking Trail and Uppgaard Management Area. Site markers soon will appear at Chiarella Forest Management Area and Walking Trail along CSAH 11 in Breezy Point.

For more information about the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway, contact chair Lynn Scharenbroich at info@paulbunyanscenicbyway.org. Donations can be sent to PO Box 401, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472. The Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway Association is a 501c3 organization.