Parts of Twin Ports Interchange project could open in fall; completion is in sight

DULUTH – Work on the $435 million Twin Ports Interchange project, a high-traffic intersection of highways and an interstate, is about a year behind schedule, but its first section could be ready for traffic in the fall, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

“We’re going to build the quality that MnDOT designed and we intend to deliver for the state,” construction manager Pete Marthaler said. “We’re going to keep the quality there and not sacrifice things just to save the schedule.”

Marthaler offered a community presentation on months of progress for dozens of residents on Monday night at Clyde Iron Works’ Malting Building. The project that centers on the meeting points of Interstate 35, I-535 and Hwy. 53 started in 2021 — a massive, years-long undertaking to replace infrastructure, blind merges and left exits, and to simplify the movement of freight between this tangle of roads and the Clure Public Marine Terminal. An estimated 80,000 vehicles passed through this area every day.

In upcoming months, there will be closures in both the north and southbound lanes of I-35 and lower Michigan Street will reopen in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Piedmont Avenue down to 21st Avenue W. and the Garfield Avenue I-525 interchange will open by fall, Marthaler said. A year later, the rest of the work area is expected to be completed, with final touches running into 2026.

The Twin Ports Interchange project started before MnDOT and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation received federal backing to rebuild the Blatnik Bridge, which connects Duluth to Superior, Wis. Though there are similar areas of construction involved, MnDOT said that preliminary designs show that the current construction will likely not be affected by the new bridge; that work is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2027.

Construction at two Twin Ports Interchange project work sites where historical artifacts were found — in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and in the area of Garfield Avenue — remains stalled, with little information yet on how the finds will affect the project. Work has shifted to other sites in the meantime.

In both cases, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council [MIAC] was called in to assess the situation.

“I’ve learned that there’s a history, generations back, where the concern and the care wasn’t there, and so things have been moved around in a horrible way,” Marthaler said.

George Goggleye Jr., the cultural resources manager for MIAC, said the agency has little to report on these two sites.

“This is an ongoing process of gathering information,” he said.