Biden's Superior visit highlights Twin Ports infrastructure

SUPERIOR — A presidential announcement may be the worst-kept secret in the Twin Ports after a Minnesota congressman who voted against the funding bill let the secret out.

That doesn’t make it any less historic.

After all, the federal government would pay more than $1.32 billion to bridge the Twin Port cities of Duluth and Superior. It’s the single largest grant the federal government has ever awarded, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

President Joe Biden announced the grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation during a nearly four-hour trip to Superior on Thursday, Jan. 25, that took him to Connors Point, Earth Rider Brewery, Cedar Lounge and the Superior Fire Department headquarters.

Protesters lined up across the street from Earth Rider Brewery to object to Enbridge’s Line 5 and the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on people in Gaza.

Many more people lined the streets of Duluth and Superior, some waving flags, and many held up cell phones to capture the motorcade as it headed through the streets of the Twin Ports.

Biden says his Investing in America agenda is mobilizing private sector investment in the United States, bringing back American manufacturing after decades of off-shoring, and creating new, good-paying jobs that don’t require a college degree.

In Wisconsin, private companies have announced more than $2 billion in investments, including clean energy manufacturing in New Berlin, biomanufacturing in Madison and Verona, and clean power across the state. Another $6.3 billion in public infrastructure and clean energy investments have been allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Minnesota has seen similar public and private investments.

The infrastructure law allocated $110 billion to roads and bridges nationwide.

The Twin Ports would receive less than 1% of that and still receive the nation’s largest grant ever awarded to rebuild the Blatnik Bridge.

During the White House press briefing Wednesday, Jan. 24, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to get ahead of the president’s announcement in Superior. She wouldn’t say if the president would call out U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., after he took credit for advocating for Blatnik Bridge funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a bill he opposed.

Biden didn't call out Stauber, but he did call out former president Donald Trump for failing to deliver after many "infrastructure weeks."

While Stauber voted against the bill, he did sign onto bicameral, bipartisan letters in support of the funding for the Blatnik Bridge.

Stauber didn’t attend the president’s events Thursday, but he did release a video with the Blatnik Bridge in the background.

“Just because the infrastructure bill passed Congress and was signed into law, that did not automatically guarantee federal money for the Blatnik Bridge,” Stauber said. “In fact, the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s first application for the Blatnik Bridge funding was not selected by the Biden Administration’s Department of Transportation, which is why my advocacy was necessary.”

Biden didn't call out Stauber, but he noted the many "infrastructure weeks" of the Donald Trump administration that didn't deliver.

"On my watch ... America's having an infrastructure decade," Biden said. "We're rebuilding factories and jobs, coming back to America."

In 2023, each state committed $400 million to pay for the estimated $1.8 billion Blatnik Bridge replacement project. Minnesota has a Democratic legislature and Wisconsin has a near-Republican super-majority.

The president said the state funding is vital to ensuring the bridge project happens.

"The story we're writing is much bigger than that," Biden said. "When you see the shovels in the ground and the cranes in the sky and people hard at work on these projects, I hope you feel a sense of pride, pride in your community, pride in what we can still accomplish in America. ... We're the only country in the world that comes out stronger after every crisis we've been in."

Nick Ledin, a Superior city councilor, said he was glad to hear the president speak, but he didn't have the opportunity to meet with the president one-on-one at the Cedar Lounge.

The bridge is vital to the Twin Ports economy and businesses like his, said Tim Nelson, owner of Earth Rider Brewery.

"We're on the Duluth-Superior harbor on the base of the Blatnik Bridge," Nelson said. "I'm a fourth-generation Twin Ports resident. I deeply understand the importance of the bridge that connects Duluth, Superior physically, financially and spiritually, I think."

He said his grandmother remembered rowing across the St. Louis Bay when she was younger.

"The bridge is critical to my business," Nelson said. "The building of the bridge will be critical to my business' growth."

The High Bridge, renamed the Blatnik Bridge in 1971, was built between 1958 and 1961, after decades of efforts to replace the old Interstate Bridge, which carried most vehicle traffic between Duluth and Superior. The new 7,975-foot bridge opened to traffic in December 1961 at a cost of $15 million.

Then, the federal government paid 90% of the cost, leaving Minnesota and Wisconsin to share the remaining 10%.

The bridge was built with the expectation of peak traffic of about 14,000 vehicles a day but by the early 1990s, the bridge was averaging about 26,000 vehicles a day. Most recently, daily traffic peaked at 33,000 vehicles per day with more than $4 billion in goods transiting the bridge.

An early 1990s rehabilitation of the Blatnik Bridge widened its approaches but added a heavier deck and concrete railings to replace the curb between the northbound and southbound lanes, increasing the deck load.

After the 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis — another truss bridge like the Blatnik — gusset plate reinforcement efforts followed in a string of maintenance projects in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Each round saw gusset plates reinforced by bolting on additional steel plating. But each new inspection revealed new deterioration and corrosion between gussets and the steel they're riveted to.

Twice since 2016, the DOTs of both states have reduced the weight limits allowed on the bridge, and currently, the bridge is limited to about 60% of the capacity of a standard highway bridge.

By 2017, the Duluth News Tribune reported the need to replace the Blatnik Bridge, and the following year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation District 1 added the bridge replacement by 2028 to its list of priorities. The bridge would close permanently by 2030.

Planning to replace the bridge got underway with public input by 2020.

In October, officials with the Wisconsin and Minnesota transportation departments revealed the final design of the new bridge would follow the current alignment of the Blatnik Bridge but the new interchange in Superior would transition east to U.S. Highway 53 instead of landing on Hammond Avenue, a city street in Superior.

The estimated $1.8 billion project calls for the demolition of the existing bridge to construct the new bridge over a nearly five-year period.

With only $800 million designated for the project by Wisconsin and Minnesota legislatures, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., admits she feared that federal funding for the project would have come in “dribs and drabs.”

But even Gov. Tony Evers was comfortable on Tuesday, Jan. 23, in his announcement that the project was fully funded.

During his annual State of the State address, Evers said: “We’ve also worked with our Minnesota and federal partners to secure over $1 billion in federal funding to support our effort to replace the Blatnik Bridge in Superior. It’s a critical economic driver for our state and supports the largest port on the Great Lakes.”

According to Stauber, the project will receive $1.06 billion.

Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, said Thursday that the Blatnik is "essential to the efficient, safe flow of critical cargoes through our world port, both on the road and on the water."

"It’s a vital artery within the Upper Midwest supply chain, linking North America’s furthest-inland seaport and helping move the raw materials of everyday life," she said. "We’re grateful for this significant U.S. DOT investment in such an important piece of infrastructure. This is a bi-state project and it took organized advocacy from both sides of the bridge to ensure a successful outcome. We greatly appreciate Wisconsin and Minnesota legislators’ support of the project throughout the process.”

This story was updated at 9:48 a.m. Jan. 25 to correct the estimated price tag for the Blatnik Bridge project. It is $1.8 billion. The Telegram regrets the error. The story was updated again at 9 a.m. Jan. 26 to add details from Biden's visit.