Duluth approves $33 million West Superior Street rebuild, construction starts in May

The project covers 1.65 miles of West Superior Street and is being paid for with a financing stack that includes nearly $25 million from the USDOT RAISE program, about $7.7 million in IIJA match money from MnDOT, plus Municipal State Aid for Streets and local utility funds. City information says there will be no assessments to neighboring properties, a point that matters to households along the corridor as the work moves into one of Duluth’s busiest travel routes. A public meeting is scheduled for May 7 at The Caddy Shack Indoor Golf & Pub, and the city is also rolling out a project website and web updates as construction nears.

The rebuild comes as Duluth continues to wrestle with a deep street backlog. City materials say 55% of the city’s 450 miles of local streets are in “poor” condition, and the half-percent sales tax voters approved in 2017 now generates about $8 million a year for street preservation. That money is already being put to work in Gary-New Duluth, Duluth Heights, Chester Park and the University of Minnesota Duluth area, where a 2026 preservation project will cover 3.152 miles with milling, full-depth reclamation, bituminous overlay, curb-and-gutter work, driveway fixes, sidewalk and ADA improvements, and stormwater upgrades.

Downtown also saw a costly change in the long-running Shoppers Ramp teardown. Councilors approved a change order that pushed the demolition contract to $3,045,430.84, far above the original $967,000 demolition-and-shoring bid. Duluth Economic Development Authority bought the ramp and the attached New Garrick building for $545,000, and the ramp, which was shuttered and condemned in 2019 and certified structurally substandard in 2021, is now being removed floor by floor while the historic New Garrick is preserved. Mayor Roger Reinert called the start of demolition “an historic day” and part of downtown’s “next chapter.”