MnDOT is continuing it’s planning to remake Duluth’s London Road, and on February 12, held the latest in a years-long series of public meetings to get information about the project across to the community.

The plan calls for a rework of a little over three miles of London, stretching from 26^th Avenue East where Interstate 35 ends, and ending after the Lester River bridge, just past 60^th Avenue East. MnDOT says the project will improve the flow of traffic, as well as pedestrian safety.

The $20 million project will include things like changing lane configurations, resurfacing the pavement, and adding two roundabouts to the stretch, the first at 26^th Avenue East, the other at 40^th Avenue East. With all this work, MnDOT says detours will be a factor.

“There will definitely be impacts for a couple years,” said Pippi Mayfield, MnDOT’s communication’s director for the district, “We’ll have the detour route up on Superior Street. One way will be on London Road, one way will be on Superior Street.”  Plans call for one lane of London Road to be open during the work, while cars in the other direction will be rerouted to Superior Street.

For the moment, work on the project is slated to begin in spring of 2026 and is expected to wrap up in the Fall of 2027. At the meeting, planners themselves noted that the project itself is complex.

“Reconstruction is tough,” said Matt Settergren, a vice president with LHB, a firm contracted by MnDOT to help with planning, “we spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to minimize and mitigate impacts to the traveling public and the residents along London Road. And through that, we studied various different alternatives to try to figure out the best way to do this.”

Further details on the London Road project can be found on MnDOT’s website.