Duluth’s Superior Street Set To Reopen Before Grandma’s Marathon Weekend
The Superior Street Reconstruction Project is drawing to a close. Officials with the City of Duluth shared that the stretch of roadway west of Lake Avenue that has been closed since April will open mid-June to traffic once again.
Officials shared Thursday that the roadway between 1st Avenue West and 3rd Avenue West on Superior Street, which has been torn up since mid-April, will reopen by the end of the business day on Wednesday, June 16.
This portion of roadway was part of the stretch of last year's Superior Street Reconstruction final phase, however crews were unable to complete the entire road project before the end of the construction season. This led to a temporary pavement of the roadway for the winter after the replacement of underground infrastructure over the summer. Crews returned in mid-April to rip up the temporary roadway pavement, pour the permanent road cement, and replace the old brick sidewalks with cement.
As of Friday morning, almost all of the roadway cement has been poured and portions of the sidewalks on either side of the road still need to be poured. Crews will continue to work on this and other smaller elements of finishing the project, including striping the roadway, during the remaining approximate week and a half. This timeframe will also allow recently-poured cement to fully cure before traffic is allowed to travel on it.
The initial reopening date that was announced when work began this spring was June 11, however crews needed a little more time to complete the project and make sure it is ready for traffic. That slid the reopening date back 5 days, but still will see the road reopen a few days before Grandma's Marathon, which is the weekend after the road reopens.
The last part of the project will include the installation of some decking at the eastern plaza at the intersection of Lake Avenue and Superior Street, which is scheduled to be done before the end of summer.