On December 1, about two miles of the Dakota Rail Regional Trail in Orono will close, from North Shore Drive to Orono Orchard Road. The segment stays closed through March 31. Three Rivers Park District says there will be no posted detour. On its own, that reads like a routine winter closure on a trail that gets far less use after November. The cause is bigger. The trail is one leg of a new regional sewer line that the Metropolitan Council is building through Orono, and on the roads that line has a much longer schedule than four winter months.
The trail closure has the clearest dates and the shortest run of anything in the project. October and November are the last weeks when Orono's trail, its trailheads and the streets around them are all open together.
The pipe has a route, and the trail is its last leg
Met Council Environmental Services calls the work Orono Sewer Improvements, Project 802897. Its project map labels it the Orono Interceptor 7113 Improvements. The route on the project page goes in this order:
- It starts at sewer lift station L59 on Lilac Lane.
- It runs south on Old Crystal Bay Road.
- It turns east on North Shore Drive.
- It turns north on Brown Road.
- Near Brown Road and Lakeview Avenue, it joins the Dakota Rail Trail and follows the trail northeast to Orono Orchard Road.
The existing regional pipe follows the same path at first. Then it keeps going east to Shoreline Drive and turns northeast along Shoreline. The new line leaves that path and runs up the trail corridor. Met Council's public materials do not give a reason for building the new line, so this post doesn't offer one.
The route matters to people who use the trail because Brown Road and North Shore Drive are also how many of them get to it. The City of Wayzata lists the Brown Road and North Shore Drive area in Orono as one of the trail's parking access points. Both streets are on the pipe route.
Four months on the trail, longer on the streets
Met Council plans to build one street at a time, and it says plainly that this will make the project take longer. It uses both open-trench and trenchless tunneling methods. The project page expects construction to start in late 2026 and finish in spring or summer 2028. A Met Council mailer splits that timeline in two. Construction runs through fall 2027, and final restoration may continue into spring or summer 2028.
Here are the published dates for the Orono project and the other trail closures this season:
| What | Where | Dates as published |
|---|---|---|
| Hennepin County ramp work, posted detour | Dakota Rail at Commerce Boulevard, Mound | Beginning Oct. 5 |
| Xcel transmission line replacement | About 2.5 miles, Shoreline Drive in Mound to Westonka Recreation Park | Oct. 15 through end of February |
| Met Council sewer line | About 2 miles, North Shore Drive to Orono Orchard Road | Dec. 1 through March 31 |
| Met Council street work | Lilac Lane, Old Crystal Bay Road, North Shore Drive, Brown Road | Late 2026 into 2027, restoration possibly into 2028 |
On the trail, the closed sections get something back. Three Rivers says the parts damaged by the sewer work will be repaved. On the streets, Met Council lists what to expect while crews work:
- Road closures and intersection restrictions
- Traffic detours
- Dust, noise, odors, vibration and visual impacts
- Temporary above-ground wastewater pipes and generators to run the pumps
Met Council says driveway access will be maintained. To keep sewer service running, crews will lay temporary pipes above ground to carry flow around each work site. In some places those pipes may be buried under driveways or roads, and Met Council says it will notify property owners first. The diesel pumps for this bypass system have noise dampening and will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you live on Lilac Lane, Old Crystal Bay Road, North Shore Drive or Brown Road, the project page has an email and text sign-up for updates. It is the most direct way to find out which street is next.
The end-to-end ride has ten more days, with one detour
There is a tighter deadline before December 1. The Xcel closure starts October 15 and takes out the stretch west of downtown Mound, past Gale Woods Farm. Three Rivers lists the whole Dakota Rail as 13.5 paved miles through Wayzata, Orono, Minnetonka Beach, Spring Park, Mound, Minnetrista and St. Bonifacius. Starting tomorrow, October 5, the trail closes at Commerce Boulevard in Mound for Hennepin County ramp work, and riders follow a posted detour around it. Counting from today, that means an end-to-end ride, using the Commerce Boulevard detour, is possible through October 14.
From October 15 through November 30, the Orono and Spring Park sections stay fully open. From December 1, the trail stays open between the two closed sections, but neither closure has a posted detour. Three Rivers scheduled both projects for fall and winter because trail use drops sharply in the colder months.
The fall color window lines up closely with these dates. The Minnesota DNR's 2026 forecast puts the typical statewide peak between late September and mid-October, with color moving from the northwest toward the southeast. It says peak usually lasts about a week and varies by place and weather. The DNR's nearest metro reading, Fort Snelling State Park, showed 10 to 25 percent color as of September 29, 2026. There is no county-level reading for Orono, but on the statewide schedule, the next two weeks are the most likely time for color along the Orono stretch.
Stops along the open stretch
The trail runs past several businesses that are within easy reach this fall. Hours change by season, so check the posted hours before you go.
Minnetonka Center for the Arts, 2240 North Shore Drive. The Center's visitor page points to the nearby Dakota Rail Regional Trail as a paved way to walk or bike there. It sits on North Shore Drive, one of the streets on the sewer route. Its Arts of the Holidays Show & Sale opens October 23 and runs through December 19. The show is free and open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with work by more than 100 local artists. That puts more than five weeks of the sale before the trail closes. The building is open until 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though the Center says hours can shift with weather, classes and exhibits.
Back Channel Brewing, Spring Park. The trail runs through the center of Spring Park, and Back Channel is one of the city's best-known stops. The Sun Sailor reported that the brewery won Brewery of the Year at the 2026 Minnesota Brewers Cup. Its co-owner credited the brewery's location on Lake Minnetonka and the Dakota Rail Trail for part of its growth. The taproom at 4787 Shoreline Drive is open daily. It opens at noon on weekdays and at 11 a.m. on weekends, and closes at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Lake Room, 3386 Shoreline Drive, Navarre. The restaurant posts weekday and weekend hours and a Sunday brunch. Three Rivers lists a municipal parking lot in Navarre as one of the trail's access points.
Downtown Wayzata, the east end. The City of Wayzata lists 175 Grove Lane as a trailhead with parking. From there, The Grocer's Table at 326 Broadway Avenue is a market, café and wine bar with full-service dinner from 4 p.m. CōV at 700 East Lake Street lists dine-in hours every day.
The Orono closure falls between these stops. After December 1, a ride from Wayzata to Navarre or Spring Park on the trail will be cut by the two-mile gap between North Shore Drive and Orono Orchard Road, with no marked detour around it.
Getting to the trailhead this fall
Driving to the east end this month also means dealing with Highway 12. MnDOT lists Highway 12 at one lane in each direction from Shoreline Drive to Gleason Lake Road through October. The ramp from northbound Shoreline Drive to eastbound Highway 12 is closed until late October. MnDOT calls these dates tentative and dependent on weather.
Put together, the published schedules give a clear sequence. With the Commerce Boulevard detour in Mound, an end-to-end ride is possible through October 14. The Orono and Spring Park sections stay open through November 30. On December 1, the Orono segment from North Shore Drive to Orono Orchard Road closes until March 31 and is repaved where the pipe goes in. Starting in late 2026, Met Council will work its way down Lilac Lane, Old Crystal Bay Road, North Shore Drive and Brown Road one street at a time, with construction through fall 2027 and restoration that may continue into 2028.
A street-by-street project that runs into 2028 affects more than daily routines. For homeowners on Old Crystal Bay Road, North Shore Drive, Brown Road and the streets around them, it also affects when to sell, how to present the home and what buyers will see during a showing. The Steadman Team has followed infrastructure timelines like this one around Lake Minnetonka for more than 30 years. If you're weighing a move during the Orono Sewer Improvements project, request a private consultation and valuation, and we'll map your plans against the Met Council schedule.
