City councilors gave the green light Monday for city administration to push ahead with efforts to build another 44 miles of pathway, completing the Duluth Traverse Trail, at a cost of nearly $2 million.
By an 8-1 vote, the council authorized the city to pursue and accept a state grant for $922,188, if the bid for funding proves successful.
Councilor Jay Fosle cast the sole dissenting vote. He called on the city to do more to accommodate trails for more than bicyclists and walkers, suggesting it was time to look at trails designed for all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and horseback riding, as well.
If the city indeed receives funding from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, it will be obliged to match the grant funding dollar for dollar with local resources.
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Those funds would come from a recently renewed half-percent sales tax on lodging, eating and drinking establishments, according to David Montgomery, Duluth’s chief administrative officer. Funds from the tourism tax are earmarked for projects that will encourage tourism and greater recreational activity in western Duluth, throughout the St. Louis River corridor.
The renewed tourism tax is expected to generate about $18 million in coming years, and Montgomery said grants such as those being sought for the Duluth Traverse could stretch the money further.
“City administration is trying to leverage those dollars into another $15 to $30-plus million to invest in that corridor,” he said.
Waylon Munch, a member of Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores - aka COGGS - said the section of the trail that already has been completed is generating positive reviews and attracting new users from near and far.
“There’s a really positive feeling and I think the Duluth Traverse is setting the stage for this model of the healthy and active community that Duluth is striving to be,” he said.
If and when the Duluth Traverse is completed, it will connect existing trail networks, enabling users to travel the full distance from Chambers Grove Park on the western edge of the city to Lester Park on the east. The proposed Traverse would provide people with direct access to more than 100 miles of interconnected trails.
The single-track trail would have a natural surface designed particularly with mountain bikes in mind, but it could also be used by others, including hikers, showshoers, runners, birdwatchers and dog walkers.
