A steady stream of beachgoers drove cautiously down Wisconsin Point Road Tuesday, weaving around potholes and kicking up gravel dust in the intense August sun.
The city-operated three-mile-long road has been in disrepair for some time, but an Army Corps of Engineers project has aggravated it's condition during an unusually warm, high-use season. The city installed a road sign this spring telling motorists to drive at their own risk.
The Corps' project -- repairing the Superior shipping entry -- is nearing completion after about two years of work. Damage to the road mostly is inflicted by large trucks hauling concrete and other construction materials. The Corps has removed a massive concrete wall in the harbor entry, and is using steel and concrete to stabilize and repair a 100-year-old structure that was deteriorating. The repairs are required for navigation, said John Larson, acting area engineer for the Duluth Corps office.
The Corps has been pouring gravel into particularly bad spots of the road throughout the project to make it passable, and its plans are to fix what it damaged upon project completion.
"It certainly doesn't make any sense to repair the road only to have concrete trucks traipsing back and forth," said Mary Morgan, city parks and recreation administrator.
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The Corps plans to complete the project this month, and will fill in potholes and fix other damage based on a pre-project video of the road, Larson said.
"That portion of the road out there was never built for construction traffic, and it has been used for many, many projects over the years," he said.
He said the Corps has laid more gravel than the road has probably seen in awhile, but "the city does a good job of maintaining the road based on the usage it probably gets."
The city hopes to negotiate with the Corps to partner in road repairs, said Jeff Vito, city director of public works. The road would probably be redone in the spring.
"It's going to be very difficult to patch that," he said. "It has become pretty much unraveled ... the road wasn't in the best shape" when the project started.
Using the road for construction traffic does fall during a popular time for the Point, Morgan said, but "It is the only construction season we have. People need to slow down and take it easy."
Vito said he's received a couple of complaints from drivers about the condition of the road, and is surprised there haven't been more.
"But a number of people say to me it doesn't bother them a bit," he said, "that it makes people drive slower and you get to enjoy the beauty more."
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Jana Hollingsworth is a staff writer. E-mail jhollingsworth@superiortelegram.com or call (715) 394-4421, ext. 137.
