St. Luke’s Changes Portion of First Street to Two-Way

First Street between 8th and 12th Avenues East is now a two-way.

DULUTH, Minn. – On Tuesday, St. Luke’s and the city of Duluth changed a portion of First Street between 8th and 12th Avenues East into a two way.

St. Luke’s had been trying to make this change for a while, but was able to accelerate the process due to the coronavirus outbreak.

This change is a proactive step to help St. Luke’s care for the most patients and better control traffic during a potential surge from COVID-19.

“It creates better access to our campus, and right now, in this situation for this time period, access to healthcare is really paramount. We’re trying to have a prescriptive plan that we can prepare for the unexpected. We don’t know what the volume’s will be and there’s no way to really tell that,” St. Luke’s Vice President of Support Services Mike Boeselager said.

St. Luke’s says this change also allows them to easily close First Street between 9th and 10th Avenue if needed to control more traffic and utilize more facilities.