Duluth's Lakewalk reopens, but another $25 million in work awaits

DULUTH — Part of the storm-damaged trail ringing the southwestern corner of Lake Superior reopened this week and will be ready to withstand the next big storms, officials say.

But it will take another 76,000 tons of stone just to reinforce the ripped-up Lakewalk in Canal Park next year — a $4.8 million cost the Duluth City Council approved Tuesday night.

Violent waves wiped out parts of the popular trail during massive storms in October 2017 and again in April and October 2018.

Reconstruction is meant to both restore the Lakewalk and better protect it from the big lake during future storms, and it will take up to $25 million more to achieve that goal.

"As the city looks to rebuild and restore the trail for public use, climate adaptation for resiliency is a key factor," according to the city's restoration plan.

Here's a snapshot of the work that has been done and is still to come, according to city construction project supervisor Mike LeBeau:

• Distance of Lakewalk recently completed in Phase 1 and 2: 1,100 feet.

• Distance to be completed: 2,800 feet on Canal Park, 2,500 feet north of Leif Erickson Park, plus another 3,000 feet of various treatments to shoreline damage beyond the Lakewalk.

• Cost to date: $4.2 million for Phase 1 and 2.

• Expected cost to come: Estimated as much as $25 million more (in 2019 dollars).

• Tonnage of materials used to date: 11,000 tons of stone alone in Phase 1 and 2 plus concrete wall and various other fill materials.

• Tonnage to be used in next phases: 77,000 tons of large armor stone for Canal Park, perhaps another 50,000 tons elsewhere but not designed yet.

• Expected life span of new sections: 50 to 75 years.

• Visitors annually: 6.7 million people visit Duluth every year, according to Visit Duluth.

Brooks Johnson • 218-491-6496