DULUTH — Elizabeth Johnson and her husband Travis are breathing a little easier since the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced Wednesday it no longer intends to build a roundabout that would have forced the demolition of her Lester Park home, built at the corner of 60th Avenue East and London Road in 1893.
"I'm extremely grateful to all our neighbors who came together to support us," Elizabeth Johnson said. "We're ecstatic. We want to plan a party and thank all the local people and city officials and state-level folks. We've had so much help, with different people speaking for us and listening to us.
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"It was truly a grassroots effort. We can't really give the credit to any one person."
In all, 1,012 people signed a petition opposing plans for the proposed roundabout. Elizabeth Johnson said their campaign, dubbed "Preserve the Gateway," has brought the community closer together.
"A lot of us didn't really know each other six years ago. But now, we're like family," she said.
Ann Klefstad, who lives a couple doors down from Johnson on London Road, said it "was really time-consuming, particularly in the early days. But it was very much a group effort. There were about a dozen people in the steering committee, and they generated a lot of support."
"We approached it in a pretty thorough fashion. But we were always careful to keep it non-adversarial, because MnDOT's people are acting in good faith. Their primary objective is safety, and that's what they're acting on," Klefstad said.
Pippi Mayfield, a public engagement and communications director for MnDOT's 1st District, said a traffic study at the intersection confirmed the need to improve the ability of people to safely make left turns there.
"We still support a roundabout, and we will take that analysis and use it possibly in a future project. It just will not be part of this one," she said. For now, however, MnDOT has no plans to remove any houses at the 60th Avenue East intersection.
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To make the intersection safer for pedestrians, MnDOT has installed a temporary island crossing at 60th Avenue East.
"We will do something similar to that as a permanent way to help with pedestrians crossing," Mayfield said. "So, we will paint the crossing there, and we will have a center island refuge for pedestrians."
MnDOT plans to completely repave London Road as part of a $17 million project slated to begin in 2025 and to be completed in 2026. The road was last reconstructed in 2006.
Plans still include additional roundabouts to be installed on London Road at the intersections of 26th and 40th avenues east. Margie Nelson, a public affairs coordinator for MnDOT, said several homes still will need to be removed to accommodate the roundabout at 40th.
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said she encouraged MnDOT officials to consider residents' concerns over the proposed roundabout at 60th.
"As the concerns of the neighborhood continued to come forward with these resounding themes, it felt important to let MnDOT know that it was worth taking a second look at whether that specific roundabout was the right move to meet all the needs of the neighborhood and the community," Larson said.
Larson credited MnDOT staff for keeping an open mind and listening to residents' concerns.
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"In the end, I think they made the right decision, which is to not choose that location at this time, and to address traffic concerns through other methods. But it was really their decision to make," she said.
Duluth City Councilor Arik Forsman said he tried to recognize "there are always two sides to a story."
"But it certainly became clear to me, as I started to learn more about the project and some of the concerns, that it was probably the right time to hit 'pause,'" he said. "So, I'm appreciative that MnDOT and our city administration both worked to do just that."
Councilor Gary Anderson, who represents Duluth's easternmost 1st District, credited residents for making their concerns known.
"The folks who organized that 'Preserve the Gateway' campaign did a good job of keeping the subject a front-and-center consideration for the City Council and for the community," he said. "They were very persistent, and they kept coming back to the idea that the solution that was needed for the neighborhood should come from the neighborhood."
Johnson said she's not opposed to roundabouts in general and suggested a more appropriate location for a roundabout to slow traffic would be on the other side of the Lester River Bridge, where Superior Street meets Minnesota Highway 61.
This story was updated at 9:42 p.m. Aug. 16 to include Travis Johnson's name. It was originally posted at 5:20 p.m. Aug. 16.
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This story originally misstated MnDOT's property acquisition plans associated with its pending London Road project. It was updated at 2 p.m. Aug. 17 to clarify. The News Tribune regrets the error.
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