LIVE: Ice Road Connects Northwest Angle To Rest Of U.S. During Pandemic

Part Of Minnesota Cut Off To Car Traffic Due To Closed Canadian Border

A part of Minnesota is cut off from the rest of the country because of COVID-19. But now there’s a way to drive there without leaving the U.S.

A plowed 30-mile road connects the Northwest Angle to the rest of the U.S. It opened last week.
22 miles of the road are over the ice on the Minnesota part of Lake of the Woods.
Normally you can only drive there by passing through Canada.
But the border has been closed for months because of COVID, and fishing resorts on the Angle have lost nearly a year’s worth of business.

Lake of the Woods Tourism Executive Director Joe Henry says the road is,  “Really a result of small business owners up in the Northwest Angle, who really have been with very little revenue since March when the border was shut down, coming up with a solution to try to save their businesses.”

Henry says any little extra bit of revenue from the road will help area resorts. He hasn’t seen any indication the border will open soon, and hopes the federal government will step up with aid payments to help Angle resorts.

You do have to buy a pass from a resort on the Angle in order to use the road.

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