Blue Earth County votes to remove Rapidan Dam, replace County Road 9 bridge

After more than 100 years in operation, Blue Earth County officially voted to remove the Rapidan Dam and replace the County Road 9 bridge following devastating flood damage in June.

The dam, built in 1910, provided hydroelectric power to the county until flood damage in 1965 rendered it un-operational. Once Blue Earth County took possession of it, it began to work again in 1984.

Since then, the dam has deteriorated steadily despite frequent repairs. In 2022, an analysis showed that since 1999, Blue Earth County spent over $6 million on repairing and maintaining the dam, which is $554,251 more than it received in revenue.

During June's flooding, the Blue Earth River overtopped the dam, which created a new channel around the west abutment of the structure.

Board members were presented with options for restoring the dam and bridge, including removing both without replacing them, or working to replace the structures with federal relief funds.

Ultimately, the Board decided to remove the Rapidan Dam and use Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief and MnDOT disaster relief funds to remove and replace the County 9 bridge.

While the bridge experiences low traffic use, with only 500-600 cars crossing it daily, it is heavily used by farmers in the area who go in and out of fields to transport crops to the market.

"Not only is it important for the farm to market, but it is also important for the bike riders that want to go out into that area," says Commissioner Vance Stuehrenberg. "Without that bridge there, the farmers on one side are traveling 45 minutes to get around to their fields, if not longer."

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