DULUTH, MN — Governor Tim Walz recently broke ground on the $1.8 billion Blatnik Bridge replacement project, one of the largest public works projects in state history. Walz was joined by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, labor leaders, and members of Congress who voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that helped fund the project. The bridge is jointly owned and operated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).
"The Blatnik Bridge project is one of the largest MnDOT has ever undertaken, and it’s taken a lot of coordination with state, local, federal, and tribal governments, as well as collaboration with our business, labor, and industry partners, to get us to this project milestone,” MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said. “We look forward to building a new bridge that is safer and better serves our state and region. We thank all our partners for their help in getting us to this milestone, with a special thanks to our tribal partners who remind us of a deeper meaning of place unique to this project and lasting long after project completion.”
More than 100 project team members and public officials from Wisconsin and Minnesota gathered near the bridge to recognize the partnerships and historic collaboration necessary to fund and construct a new bridge that will serve the region and economy for decades to come.
Opened to traffic in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge is an essential link between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, via Interstate 535 and U.S. 53. The important freight and commercial connector is reaching the end of its service life, and without this reconstruction project, was projected to close by 2030. The bridge has been load-posted since 2019 and can no longer carry overweight freight loads.
More than 33,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, including commuters and visitors. Each year, more than 265,000 trucks transporting nearly $4 billion in goods pass over the St. Louis River. Many businesses across the Upper Midwest rely on the bridge to reach the Port of Duluth-Superior, the largest U.S. port on the Great Lakes. The bridge is also one of the largest marine links for U.S. trade with Canada, the top trade partner of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the United States.
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Minnesota and Wisconsin each committed $400 million for the replacement project. In addition, after years of advocacy from Walz and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) supporters in both states, the Biden administration’s IIJA awarded a $1 billion Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program grant to MnDOT and WisDOT for the project in January 2024.
In June 2026, MnDOT and WisDOT opened bids for the project. After receiving two contractor bids, Ames-Kraemer Joint Venture II was awarded the contract. The design-build process will be used for the project, allowing for efficient coordination between the design team and the construction team, lower costs, and a more innovative design and construction.
Final design of the bridge will conclude in late 2027, with early construction beginning in 2026. The complete bridge closure for approximately four to five years will begin in early 2027. The project is scheduled for completion in 2032.
