Last Tuesday night we presented information and took questions at a public meeting about our Central Entrance Transportation Plan. It was raining hard when the meeting wrapped up around 7 pm.
And it kept raining hard all night long.
By Wednesday morning, the City of Duluth had declared a state of emergency, due to the torrential downpour that caused widespread flooding and heavy damage to infrastructure. The cities of Superior, Hermantown and Proctor, all within the MIC’s planning area, followed suit shortly thereafter.
We received some good comments and questions at the Central Entrance meeting, which we had planned to address in this week’s blog.
But the transportation issues and priorities for this community have dramatically changed – literally overnight.
All of the area’s jurisdictions are currently in assessment mode and the extent of the damage is still being tallied. While the concerns expressed at the meeting, about traffic calming, walkability and access management, are all still valid—right now public safety and damage control initiatives take precedence.
The MIC has conducted numerous planning efforts up to this point, which may or may not be relevant to the damaged infrastructure.
We will be revisiting the recommendations from many of our past plans and studies to prepare for the coordinated work of rebuilding our transportation system for the enhancement of our communities.
Photos: Robert Herling and James Gittemeier
Editorial assistance: Robert Herling
