Aging infrastructure like deteriorating streets in Duluth is something city leaders are constantly dealing with.

A major street project along St. Marie street and Junction avenue near the UMD campus is in the cross hairs of city planners.

The project received one and a half million dollars in a road improvement grant funding from the state.

Alex Popp, project engineer for the city of Duluth acknowledged the poor conditions of the roads. “Well, if you’ve been out on this road, it’s pretty rough. So it’s not going to get better on its own.”

Popp said the city has done geotechnical exploration and found a lot of what he says are poor soils underneath the paved streets.

“We’ll try to dig down, get all those poor soils out and really create a facility that’s going to last for 15, 20 or even further into the future, something that will last and continue to operate well,” he said.

City engineers say Tuesday night’s public meeting is an important step in the ongoing planning phase. The city expects to bid the project next spring with the heaviest construction expected while UMD is out of session next summer.