More Cross City Trail detours expected in Lincoln Park
This portion of the Cross City Trail in Lincoln Park follows Michigan Street near Interstate 35. It reopened in 2024 after the original trail there was demolished in 2021 during the Twin Ports Interchange project, which redesigned what was known at the time as the I-35 “Can of Worms.” (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Temporary detours for a section of the Cross City Trail in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood are expected later this year when the West Superior Street Reconstruction Project begins.
The project is tentatively scheduled to start in late summer and continue through 2028. It involves a redesign and reconstruction of a mile-and-a-half stretch of West Superior Street from Carlton Avenue to where Superior Street merges with West Michigan Street. Because the Lincoln Park portion of the Cross City Trail runs adjacent to Michigan and Superior streets, the road reconstruction will disrupt both automobile and bicycle traffic.
“If the 2025 construction moves forward as planned, then the Cross City Trail will have to be detoured at two locations,” said James Gittemeier, senior transportation planner for the city of Duluth.
One detour spot is at the intersection of West Superior Street and Michigan Street, near the M&H gas station. The other is the stretch of West Superior Street from Carlton Street to 24th Avenue West.
Plans for the detours remain uncertain as the street project awaits approval from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. When approval is granted, the city will select and meet with a contractor to work out the details.
Gittemeier said city of Duluth staff will meet with community members in early June to present the most recent updates on the project and review potential Cross City Trail detour plans.
The intention of the Cross City Trail as a whole is to connect the Willard Munger State Trail to the Duluth Lakewalk, creating a continuous paved trail through the city for non-motorized travel. The section in Lincoln Park is known as “Segment 1.” It runs from Carlton Street near the Canadian National Ore Dock to the Lakewalk.
When the Lincoln Park portion of Segment 1 was completed in 2014, it ran adjacent to West Superior Street to 22nd Avenue West, followed the avenue to Michigan Street, then ran adjacent to Michigan Street to its merging point with Superior Street at the Point of Rocks. During the Twin Ports Interchange project in 2021, however, the Lower Michigan Street section was demolished and a new route was established on Superior Street. In October 2024 the original Michigan Street route was restored. Both routes are currently useable.
This temporary bike lane on West Superior Street was established in 2021 and will be demolished during an upcoming street reconstruction project. The project plans include future bike trails on Superior Street, however. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Gittemeier said future detours will likely involve moving Superior Street sections to Michigan Street or First Street, but the planning process is ongoing.
Overall plans for the Cross City Trail have frequently shifted over the past two decades. Obstacles the city has faced include land ownership and funding issues. Though most of the 10-mile trail is built, a gap remains between the Munger Trail terminus and Raleigh Street in West Duluth. Several closures of built sections have occurred over the years due to unrelated projects, adding to the frustrations of trail advocates and city planners.
“It takes community,” said Gittemeier. “It takes champions of the project who are along the way the whole way, pushing for it the whole way.”
Gittemeier said projects with lengthy timelines like the Cross City Trail often experience other obstacles, including changes in city staff and community priorities. The “champions,” then, are crucial to keeping the project alive.
“They become the constant; they hold the vision,” said Gittemeier.
Jim Filby Williams, director of public administration for the city of Duluth, said city staff are “enormously impatient” to finish the trail. “It may drive us crazier than anybody, that it can’t be done as quickly as we would like,” he said.