When one thinks about the extra quarter mile or half mile that thousands of Duluthians drive each day that they go to the Miller Hall Mall, it only makes sense to put through a shortcut from Arrowhead Road to the mall.
Extra mileage? Well, yes. If a motorist is coming from eastern Duluth, the favored route is along Arrowhead Road. Motorists have two choices if they want to get to the Miller Hill Mall and adjacent shopping centers. They can cut down from Arlington Avenue to Central Entrance or they can drive out to Haines Road and curl back. Either way makes the trip longer than a cut through from Arrowhead to, say, Trinity Road.
In recent years, an increasing number of drivers have been cutting through the Duluth Heights neighborhood for just that reason. With gasoline prices now flirting around $3 per gallon, it is reasonable to expect more motorists will follow so as not to waste their precious fuel.
Unfortunately, the streets that are being used today are neighborhood streets, not arterials. A route needs to be decided upon, and then the affected street needs to be upgraded to handle the increased traffic that will result.
When one thinks about the thousands of trips made each day along Arrowhead to the mall area, it is clear that many gallons of gasoline are being wasted every day.
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A new survey may prove to be the tipping point to finally install the shortcut. The Metropolitan Interstate Council surveyed 300 neighborhood residents and found that 77 percent of them want the shortcut installed on Joshua Avenue.
Some Joshua Avenue residents may disagree, and certainly the increased traffic will change the ambience along that street, but if one looks at doing the greatest good for the greatest number, then the Joshua Avenue shortcut makes sense.
Most likely, the survey came out the way it did because today Duluth Heights residents are seeing people coming through the neighborhood on all sorts of different routes, and they recognize that none of the streets are built to handle that traffic load today. It's better to choose one road and upgrade it to handle the increased flow properly than to allow current conditions to continue.
While it will still be several years before funding will be found for the project, we urge transportation officials to make the shortcut a high priority. It is bound to save thousands of gallons of fuel and, more importantly, if done properly, may also prevent a neighborhood tragedy.
