Opening soon: Duluth major freeway construction nearly finished

DULUTH – Duluthians will soon be free to cruise the fresh, pothole-free surface of the Twin Ports Interchange.

The revamp of a high-traffic tangle of thoroughfares in the middle of the city, long nicknamed the “Can of Worms,” is days from completion — ending five years of stalled traffic and detours through residential streets.

The $435 million Twin Ports Interchange project brought upgrades to the roads and ramps that connect interstates 35 and 535 and Hwy. 53, an area that gets 80,000 vehicles a day, including those headed to and from the Duluth-Superior Harbor. It has been closed since 2021 and is expected to see its first traffic Oct. 24.

On Monday afternoon, lawmakers and stakeholders, including Gov. Tim Walz, gathered beneath the new construction to laud the project, one of the largest of its kind in state history. It was funded by the federal 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The event included a walk up a new ramp for a ribbon-cutting — Walz and Mayor Roger Reinert shared the oversized shears — with a view of new green road signs in the background.

“The Can of Worms is officially no longer a thing, which is something to celebrate,” said Reinert, who recalled the precarious way that traffic lights used to hang over the road.

The construction has brought years of finding new routes and single-lane traffic to people reluctant to zipper merge. In a city known for potholed streets, it has required detours through neighborhoods to get from Lincoln Park to the city’s central shopping district. Sometimes a road was open, then closed the next day.

In addition to aging concrete and supports, the former interchange had left exits and blind merges. The former configuration was known for its fender-benders, particularly rear-endings, said Duane Hill, a MnDOT engineer who gave a presentation about the project recently.

Rebecca Bischoff moved to the Lincoln Park neighborhood, the site of the interchange, while it was in the middle of construction. She said she is looking forward to not having interstate traffic rerouted through nearby residential streets, and that the new system will be easier to navigate.

The DFL Party released a statement calling out U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, who spoke favorably about the project at the ribbon-cutting, for opposing the infrastructure law that made construction possible.

“Pete Stauber’s hypocrisy knows no bounds,” Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlbom said in a news release. “He voted against this project every step of the way but conveniently has a change of heart when it’s time for a public accolade at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.”

Stauber, at the event, denied that he had opposed funding for local infrastructure.

“What I voted against is the Green New Deal initiative that had nothing to do with hard, critical infrastructure,” he said.

In 2021, Stauber accused Democrats of having a “bloated multi-trillion-dollar tax-and-spend package,” according to his website. “Make no mistake; a vote for this ‘infrastructure’ package is a vote for the reckless multi-trillion-dollar tax-and-spend spree.”

Walz noted that Minnesota has the fourth-highest number of road miles of any state, but consistently ranks among the top four in road safety and quality.