On Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 4 p.m., the first vehicles through the new 11th Street Underpass will be emergency vehicles making a ceremonial drive. The ribbon will be cut at 11th Street and Center Avenue. When the program ends, the street goes back to being a work zone. The City of Moorhead says the official date for opening to traffic "will be announced separately."
So the party and the opening are two separate events. Between them sits about a week of Homecoming, theater openings and the last farmers markets of the season. If you've spent since 2024 driving around 11th Street, this is how that week is likely to play out.
The date we have and the date we don't
The city and MnDOT describe the underpass as the largest transportation project in Moorhead's history. The city's announcement calls the Oct. 7 event a celebration of the "near completion of construction."
The best estimate for real traffic came from a construction update meeting on Sept. 15. MnDOT spokesperson Emma Olson said the underpass is expected to open in mid-October. Nathan Goulet, the project engineer for Ames Construction, said the contractor aims to finish work by Oct. 15. Both are forecasts, not announcements.
There is still work to do. According to Goulet, fencing and electrical work were left for the final month. MnDOT's late-August update also listed the 11th-to-10th Street connection, sidewalks, final lighting and striping. On MnDOT's project page, Stage 3 closures are still in effect on 11th Street between Second Avenue North and Main Avenue, and on Center Avenue between 10th and 14th Streets. Until the city sets a date, plan your routes as if those closures are still in place.
Three construction seasons, three different detours
The current closures are the third version of the detour. Each year of the project moved the work to a different cross street, so the route around it kept changing.
- 2024, First Avenue. The first closures shut First Avenue between 10th and 12th Streets and 11th Street between First and Second Avenues North. Drivers were sent along 14th Street North, Fourth Avenue North and Ninth Street North. In October 2024, MnDOT said the long-term detour would move to Eighth Street.
- 2025, Main Avenue. In June 2025, Main Avenue closed between 10th and 13th Streets. Traffic was routed via 10th Street South, Second Avenue South and 13th Street South, and access to Main Avenue businesses was to be maintained.
- 2026, Center Avenue. The final stage covers Center Avenue and 11th Street between Main and First. It was scheduled to run from about October 2025 through October 2026.
Goulet expected the last Center Avenue pavement to be poured in mid-September. "So that will be a big milestone," he said. That pavement is the same stretch of Center Avenue where the block party will be held.
Why the trains were the whole point
The railroad isn't going away. MnDOT describes the project as two grade separations under BNSF's Prosper and KO Subdivisions. 11th Street now runs beneath the tracks on separate bridges, which replace two crossings where cars used to wait at street level. The trains will keep coming, but 11th Street drivers won't have to wait for them.
The numbers explain the cost. In 2023, InForum reported that about 70 trains a day passed over downtown Moorhead's twin tracks, blocking traffic for roughly five hours combined. MnDOT projected about 90 trains and seven hours of blockage a day by 2045. Those figures cover downtown as a whole, not just the two 11th Street crossings. They still show where things were heading: more trains, longer waits, and a single grade-separated route that never has to stop for either.
InForum put the project at $122 million in March 2024. Its September 2026 coverage used $115 million. That is the most recent reported figure, not a final closeout cost. The early funding included a $26.3 million federal award and $65 million in state bonding, with more expected from MnDOT, Clay County and BNSF.
The week the ribbon lands on
The underpass celebration falls in the same week as Homecoming at both colleges. Here is the stretch from the final-month market to the weekend after.
- Tuesday, Oct. 6. Moorhead Farmers Market runs 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Trinity Lutheran Church lot at 213 8th St. S., with music from 4 to 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, Oct. 7. The ribbon cutting and program start at 4 p.m. at 11th Street and Center Avenue. The block party follows from 5 p.m. on Center Avenue near Ninth Street, spreading across the Eighth-to-10th Street blocks, with bands, food trucks and local business booths. The city's notice says the event ends at 8 p.m., and InForum reported 8:30 p.m. Plan on the earlier time if you're coming late.
- Thursday, Oct. 8. Cantus Vocal Ensemble performs at MSUM. Concordia's Homecoming bonfire and fireworks start at 8:45 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 9. Theatre B opens Frankenstein by Nick Dear at 215 10th St. N. Concordia's The Musical Comedy of Murders of 1940 opens at 8 p.m. in Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre.
- Saturday, Oct. 10. Concordia's Homecoming parade is at 11 a.m., a matinee of the comedy is at 2 p.m., and the Homecoming concert is at 6:30 p.m. MSUM holds its Band Alumni Homecoming Concert the same day.
- Sunday, Oct. 11. The final performance of Concordia's comedy is at 2 p.m.
That is a lot of activity for a week when one main north-south street through downtown is still closed. If you're driving to the block party, keep the Stage 3 closures in mind and leave a few extra minutes.
After the barricades come down
If Ames hits its Oct. 15 target, the second half of October will be the first stretch since 2024 with 11th Street open under the tracks. Several events carry through that period:
- The farmers market's final Tuesdays are Oct. 13, 20 and 27, still 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran.
- Trinity Lutheran also hosts The Open Road: Music for Choir and Guitar on Oct. 17 and 18.
- MSUM's October calendar continues with the Commercial Music Ensemble Acoustic Concert on Oct. 15, a Percussion Children's Show on Oct. 19 and 20, a Chamber Ensemble Recital on Oct. 27 and the Fuego Tropical Concert on Oct. 29.
- Frankenstein runs at Theatre B through Nov. 1.
- PANGEA: Cultivate Our Cultures fills the Hjemkomst Center at 202 1st Ave. N. on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Moorhead Parks & Recreation hasn't posted dates for its 2026 Pumpkin Party and Trunk or Treat yet.
The downtown on the other side of the tracks
The underpass will open onto a downtown that has changed during construction, some of it because of construction. Holland's relocated from Center Avenue to Fargo because the underpass route passed through its building. In 2023, InForum reported that Glass Doctor Auto planned to move from 1100 Second Avenue South to 2221 14th Avenue South. The same report said Hornbacher's would stay open but lose about 25 parking spaces to the project.
This summer brought more changes:
- Bouquet Bar opened July 24 at 17 Fifth St. S., in the building that used to house Country Greenery. Owner Alyssa Berdahl set it up around a flower wall where customers choose their own stems for a custom bouquet.
- Twenty Below Coffee closed its Moorhead shop on Eighth Street South on July 5.
- Rustica Eatery & Tavern announced in August that Saturday, Aug. 29, would be its last day at 315 Main Ave., after owners Anna Weisenburger and Micah Leitel decided not to renew their lease in the Kassenborg Building. The owners wrote that Rustica had been "a pillar of Moorhead for 12 years," seven of them under their ownership.
- Happy Daze World, a cannabis dispensary from founders Andrew Brandt and GL Hardy, is planned for the former 99 Bottles space at 924 Main Ave. The summer 2026 opening window on its website had passed by Sept. 24, and no official opening date was public then.
Once traffic is allowed through, 11th Street will connect these blocks without a train crossing in the way. Until the city announces that date, the best information is MnDOT's mid-October forecast and Ames's Oct. 15 target.
Wondering how a finished underpass and a reopened downtown grid might fit into your home's value? Brett Dalzell and the Up North team prepare every valuation by hand, using recent Moorhead sales rather than guesses. Get Your Home's Value whenever you're curious, and we'll walk you through the numbers.
