West Arrowhead Road Active Transportation Action Plan

Overview

St. Louis County, with support from the Minnesota Active Transportation Program (administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation) has developed an Active Transportation Action Plan for West Arrowhead Road between Haines Road and Rice Lake Road. The Action Plan can be viewed here. Please note the plan does not include West Arrowhead Road between Rice Lake Rd and Kenwood Avenue, because the roadway ownership changes to the City of Duluth to the east of “lower” Rice Lake Rd.

The objective of this active transportation plan is to make walking, biking and rolling safe, convenient, comfortable, accessible, desirable and enjoyable on the West Arrowhead Rd corridor. Public input and technical analysis informed the development of recommendations for priority projects to improve the corridor over time for people walking, biking and rolling. Recommendations were developed based on improving safety for active transportation users and considering connections to bike and pedestrian facilities in surrounding neighborhoods and to destinations for community members.

Most recommendations will require close coordination with partners. Short to medium-term recommendations include new enhanced pedestrian crossings and shared-use paths, while longer-term recommendations include roadway redesign and connections to nearby active transportation facilities. In some instances, short-term actions are identified to start making progress while longer-term, more resource-intensive improvements are developed.

A primary recommendation of the Active Transportation plan is for St. Louis County to undertake a complete corridor study. This will allow for more in-depth consideration of recent and long-term development along the corridor, traffic analysis of intersections and roadway capacity, access management of driveways, right-of-way availability and needs, and roadway network impacts for all modes of transportation. The Active Transportation plan will be a supplement of the corridor plan to inform current active transportation needs and recommendations. Review of walking, biking and rolling will continue to be included as the corridor plan is developed.

Vision

A convenient, comfortable, accessible, and enjoyable West Arrowhead Road corridor that provides multimodal facilities, supports current and future connections, facilitates community-building, and accommodates active transportation users of all ages and abilities year-round.

Goals:

1. Health & Well-being: Encourages a healthy active lifestyle for residents and enhances available options for access to food and health resources, prioritizes community and neighborhood vitality over traffic, enhancing community health.
2. Transportation Choice: Provides welcoming active transportation facilities, offering multimodal travel choices to all road users, ideally year-round.
3. All Ages & Abilities: Creates a safe, comfortable and convenient network that prioritizes the most vulnerable roadway users, strengthening community access and safety.
4. Community Input: Learning community concerns and visions through engagement and understanding and integrating community needs and desires into the plan.
5. Environmental Benefits: Reduces vehicle miles traveled and air pollutant emissions.

We Need Your Help

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