Duluth Road Construction Projects Begin

DULUTH, Minn.– As the weather warms up, the orange cones are coming back out of storage and lining the streets for construction season.

Crews got to work in downtown Duluth on the two construction projects in the area.

The city of Duluth has started phase three of the Superior Street Reconstruction Project.

The city is currently working on a mile long stretch from Lake Avenue to West Third Avenue.

Crews are installing new water main lines and sewer systems. Replacing some water mains that are nearly 100 years old. The city also rerouted lines so buildings still have access to water.

The project will replace the cobblestone bricks with a concrete road.

“We got about as much use as you can reasonably expect out of it,” said Duncan Schwensohn, Senior Engineer for the City of Duluth. “It’ll be nice to have everything brand new again and we won’t have to worry about utilities for decades now once we’re done here.”

The other project going on downtown is the work to resurface the Lake Avenue Bridge, led by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The construction project is going to help extend the life of the bridge while also making sidewalks more accessible. Crews will be replacing signals and adding a bike lane across the bridge.

Even with the traffic congestion, Mn-DOT is working with the city to make sure everyone has access to Canal Park this summer.

“We’re working closely with the superior street reconstruction so that we’ll be able to open up through downtown at the same time,” said Margie Nelson, District 1 Public Affairs Coordinator for Mn-DOT.

Construction on the bridge will be completed in August and work on Superior Street Reconstruction Project is expected to be done in November.