The Minnesota Department of Transportation is hosting another open house on the Highway 23 project that has been stalled since Native American graves were disturbed at the work site this spring.
MnDOT will offer updates and take questions from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at Chambers Grove Park, located at Highway 23 and 137th Avenue West in Duluth's Fond du Lac neighborhood.
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa was not consulted over years of planning for the project at Mission Creek, which started May 15. Work stopped May 26 at the band's request, but gravesites had already been damaged.
MnDOT apologized at an open house in June for what Commissioner Charles A. Zelle called "an incredibly horrific event."
A full archaeological survey is underway at the site using nonintrusive methods.
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The project to replace the bridge over Mission Creek is on hold "until the grave recovery work can be done," MnDOT says. Some work stabilizing stream banks was performed in July "in the event of a heavy rain."
Tuesday's open house will answer questions about the survey and the future of construction plans.
"It's just an update to share with residents what's going on," said MnDOT project manager Roberta Dwyer. "Members of the Fond du Lac (band) and also the Indian Affairs Council will also be on hand."
Graves in the area previously had been disturbed when the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad came through in 1869 and when Highway 23 was first built in 1937, according to the band.
Fond du Lac Band Chairman Kevin Dupuis said in a statement in June that cemeteries and historic sites "have been desecrated by poorly planned development."
"This is wrong. It needs to stop."
