Glenwood Street/Snively Road Roundabout Officially Opens
DULUTH, Minn. — Saturday was long awaited for many drivers in East Duluth, the intersection of Glenwood Street and Snively Road officially reopened.
However, the route has a twist — a roundabout now sits in the middle of it.
The site has been filled with construction workers and cranes since early July.
As of 5:00 p.m. Saturday, the orange cones and road closed signs are no longer onsite.
Instead, lakeside drivers were able to take a first spin at the new intersection.
While most are excited for the road to open, the fact being its now a roundabout leaves some people concerned.
“Roundabouts are getting more and more popular. We’ve found nothing but positive things about them. We’ve had some people nervous about them, but once we put them in we have very few to no complaints about them. People see how well they work for everybody. From bikes to motorists, it’s going to flow very smooth and safe,” said St. Louis Count Resident Engineer, Steve Krasaway.
Krasaway went on to say, when used correctly, roundabouts help speed up traffic flow and limit congestion.
“Roundabouts are extremely safe and efficient because when you enter a roundabout, your only rule is to look to the left and see if a car is coming. If you look to the left and there is no car, you can enter the roundabout. If you come to a normal intersection, there’s about 15 rules you need to follow for those type of intersections.”
While this project is complete, Krasaway says the road to get here wasn’t all smooth pavement.
“Overall, the project is really close to on schedule. We’ve dealt with a lot of things this year with cement shortages, material shortages, worker shortages, but now we’re getting all through it, working through the difficulties and it’s ready to open not too far off schedule.”
However, work continues on a nearby road.
You can still expect lane closures between Arrowhead and Snively road through October 22nd.
The projects have been joint efforts between St. Louis County and the City of Duluth.
Funding comes from nearly three million dollars in federal money.
