Lakewalk to Reopen Next Week in Canal Park
DULUTH, Minn.– It’s been a familiar site down in Canal Park to see fences and guardrails covering up its section of the Lakewalk, but by this time next week, it’s going to look completely different.
“A week from now, we will formally reopen this Lakewalk,” said Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.
After sitting empty for so long, the path will be filled with walkers, runners and bikers once again. As the Lakewalk in Canal Park will reopen within the next week. It’s a week ahead of the city’s goal of Grandma’s Marathon weekend.
“A lot of time has gone into this process of repairing the Lakewalk,” said Larson.
Work has been ongoing since massive storm damage in 2018. The walkways have been widened to allow for more pedestrian traffic with 23 benches along the asphalt trail of the city’s busiest section of the Lakewalk. To prevent additional storm damage, the rock bed has been raised up to the new concrete wall and boardwalk.
“When this was initially built, there was no drainage, there was no engineering that went into it. And that’s not a slam, it was a treasure, it was just a treasure that was developed on a garbage pile,” said Larson. “Mother nature has continued to remind us who is in charge and has demanded our attention to change course and integrate new concepts and ideas.”
Mayor Larson also thanked state and federal leaders who have helped secure disaster relief funding for the $16 million project in Canal Park.
State Representative Liz Olson was at the Lakewalk Saturday, adding that it’s great to see a Duluth icon reopen stronger than ever.
“Making sure that we have adequate funding in our disaster relief fund is a really big thing that we make sure we maintain so that when disasters like this happen, that we have that money available,” said Olson.
Business leaders say years of construction in the area, along with the pandemic over the last year, has made it tough.
“This work needed to be done. Our community needed the Lakewalk,” said Canal Park Business Association President Matt Baumgartner.
But Baumgartner says the construction actually brought customers who were checking the Lakewalk’s progress.
Now with restrictions lifted and a new and improved Lakewalk, Baumgartner expects a lot of people to make their way down to Canal Park.
“Construction and the massive rocks became an attraction in and of themselves… locals and visitors came to see what was going on and spent their money in our restaurants and in our shops,” said Baumgartner. “They’ve changed for us to still be here and for us to have a future as a business district.”
