West Arrowhead Road Active Transportation Action Plan
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Overview
St. Louis County, with support from the (administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation) is developing an Active Transportation Action Plan for West Arrowhead Road between Haines Road and Rice Lake Road. The objective of this planning process is to make walking, biking and rolling safe, convenient, comfortable, accessible, desirable and enjoyable on the West Arrowhead Rd corridor. This planning effort does not continue east along West Arrowhead Rd because the roadway ownership changes to the City of Duluth to the east of “lower” Rice Lake Rd.
This planning effort recognizes that, as a pedestrian or bicyclist, it is currently difficult to travel along this segment road. The existing sidewalk along the south side of the roadway is 5 ft wide and is located immediately behind the curb. This places pedestrians and bicyclists close to the travel lanes on West Arrowhead Rd with no separation such as a boulevard or extra-wide sidewalk. The narrow width of the sidewalk also presents a challenge for pedestrians and bicyclists meeting in opposite directions. Other concerns include crossing West Arrowhead Rd, traffic volume and vehicle speeds. In addition to the many potential destinations for pedestrians and bicyclists on this segment of West Arrowhead Rd such as businesses, retail stores and places of worship, there is also a need for West Arrowhead Rd to act as a connector for the regional pedestrian and bicycle network serving the cities of Duluth, Hermantown and Rice Lake.
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:
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.
Transportation Choice: Provides welcoming active transportation facilities, offering multimodal travel choices to all road users, ideally year-round.
All Ages & Abilities: Creates a safe, comfortable and convenient network that prioritizes the most vulnerable roadway users, strengthening community access and safety.
Community Input: Learning community concerns and visions through engagement and understanding and integrating community needs and desires into the plan.
Environmental Benefits: Reduces vehicle miles traveled and air pollutant emissions.
We Need Your Help
We need your help identifying how we might make walking, biking, and rolling (e.g., other mobility devices like scooters and wheelchairs) a convenient, comfortable, accessible, and enjoyable option along this portion of W Arrowhead Rd. We welcome your input via this website and look forward to meeting you at upcoming “community conversation” meetings as well.
St. Louis County, with support from the (administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation) is developing an Active Transportation Action Plan for West Arrowhead Road between Haines Road and Rice Lake Road. The objective of this planning process is to make walking, biking and rolling safe, convenient, comfortable, accessible, desirable and enjoyable on the West Arrowhead Rd corridor. This planning effort does not continue east along West Arrowhead Rd because the roadway ownership changes to the City of Duluth to the east of “lower” Rice Lake Rd.
This planning effort recognizes that, as a pedestrian or bicyclist, it is currently difficult to travel along this segment road. The existing sidewalk along the south side of the roadway is 5 ft wide and is located immediately behind the curb. This places pedestrians and bicyclists close to the travel lanes on West Arrowhead Rd with no separation such as a boulevard or extra-wide sidewalk. The narrow width of the sidewalk also presents a challenge for pedestrians and bicyclists meeting in opposite directions. Other concerns include crossing West Arrowhead Rd, traffic volume and vehicle speeds. In addition to the many potential destinations for pedestrians and bicyclists on this segment of West Arrowhead Rd such as businesses, retail stores and places of worship, there is also a need for West Arrowhead Rd to act as a connector for the regional pedestrian and bicycle network serving the cities of Duluth, Hermantown and Rice Lake.
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:
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.
Transportation Choice: Provides welcoming active transportation facilities, offering multimodal travel choices to all road users, ideally year-round.
All Ages & Abilities: Creates a safe, comfortable and convenient network that prioritizes the most vulnerable roadway users, strengthening community access and safety.
Community Input: Learning community concerns and visions through engagement and understanding and integrating community needs and desires into the plan.
Environmental Benefits: Reduces vehicle miles traveled and air pollutant emissions.
We Need Your Help
We need your help identifying how we might make walking, biking, and rolling (e.g., other mobility devices like scooters and wheelchairs) a convenient, comfortable, accessible, and enjoyable option along this portion of W Arrowhead Rd. We welcome your input via this website and look forward to meeting you at upcoming “community conversation” meetings as well.
No, the study area is 2.25 miles long, extending from Haines Rd to the eastern leg of Rice Lake Road. East of Rice Lake Rd it is a City of Duluth street.
How many vehicles use this road?
This section of W Arrowhead Rd is a serves an important regional commuting and commercial business access role. It is used by 13,200 vehicles per day, has 4 driving lanes and a 50-mph speed limit.
It seems like there are a lot of new businesses and apartments going up on this road. Is that expected to continue?
Yes. According to City planning documents, this road segment is planned for build-out as urban residential including neighborhood residential and neighborhood commercial. Imagine Duluth 2035, Duluth’s Comprehensive Plan, states that W Arrowhead Rd is currently an auto-oriented, commercial road, but proposes that this change to a neighborhood commercial. This increases the need for residents to be able to safely walk and bike along it as well as the need for safe bike/ped crossings. (Comp Plan pages LU-10 and LU-11).
What happens after this initial Active Transportation study is complete?
MnDOT’s Active Transportation Planning grants also include implementation support, such as technical assistance for initial design or a demonstration project. St. Louis County would also use study results to inform future decisions for possible design changes.
What type of changes are you thinking of making?
The County is just starting the process of getting community input that will be used to determine what approaches and locations for improvements we should consider taking to the next steps (conceptual design process). The high traffic volume and speed of this road indicate that a separated bike lane or side path would typically be the preferred approach to accommodate people walking, biking and rolling though at this stage in the process all options are on the table and new ideas are more than welcome. A buffer between a path and the road would improve the safety and attractiveness of the facility for people of “all ages and abilities”. An obvious location for a separated path, however, is not clear. Could a path fit into the road right of way? Would it be preferable to use green space and/or low volume roads to create a route parallel to W Arrowhead Rd to the north or south? What are the destinations of most interest, and how can an improved active transportation system help users access them? We hope that you will participate in the public input process to help us answer these and other questions.
Would improvements along West Arrowhead Road connect to any existing or planned facilities for biking, walking and rolling?
Yes! There is an existing shared use path along Rice Lake Road that extends from Central Entrance up to Technology Drive and Duluth Edison Charter Schools North Star Academy. The City of Duluth is working toward completing the Campus Connector Trail (Campus-Connector-Trail-MMP-Final-10-28-19.pdf) that will eventually run from Rice Lake Road to the Lakewalk near Lake Superior. In addition, St. Louis County is leading a project that will construct, between 2027 and 2029, a separated paved trail along the east side of Rice Lake Road beginning at Technology Dr and ending at a point approximately 0.30 mi north of Martin Road, as well as a trail along Martin Rd between Stebner Road and Stavanger Road. There are also nearby existing and planned bike and pedestrian facilities in Hermantown.
