Star Tribune
Biden to visit Superior, Duluth to trumpet bridge money
SUPERIOR, Wis. – Two years after he last visited the Blatnik Bridge to tout his $1 trillion infrastructure package, President Joe Biden returns here Thursday to the aging span set to undergo a massive rebuild thanks to a $1 billion federal grant.
The high-traffic connector between the port cities of Duluth and Superior is one of 37 projects of similar size and scope that Biden will announce $5 billion worth of funding for during his visit. His “Investing in America” agenda has led to new legislation meant to create jobs and rebuild old infrastructure — and a key over-water artery between the cities is among the projects that will benefit.
“Blatnik Bridge is a particularly vivid and meaningful example of the impact of the bipartisan infrastructure law is having all across the country,” said Olivia Dalton, Biden’s principal deputy press secretary.
After landing in Duluth, Biden is expected to travel to Superior, where he’ll be joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, among other state and local officials, to talk about plans for the new bridge — which could begin construction in 2025. He will also meet with locals and stakeholders in the project.
The $1 billion for reconstruction is the largest U.S. Department of Transportation INFRA (Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects program) grant ever, according to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office.
The entire project is expected to cost $1.8 billion. The Blatnik Bridge, built in 1961, carries 33,000 vehicles per day — traffic moving along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. About 265,000 trucks carrying $2.6 billion in domestic goods and $1.07 billion in international goods travel the route every year.
Transportation officials in Minnesota and Wisconsin have recommended that the bridge be rebuilt along a similar alignment, with roundabout interchanges and a multiuse path along the side. Transportation departments on both sides of the bridge have committed an equal amount of funding to the project — $400 million each.
Today marks the second presidential visit in less than two years to the northwestern Wisconsin city. And Biden’s visit this week to the battleground state, which he narrowly won in 2020 and former Republican President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016, highlights its significance. A November New York Times/Siena College poll showed Biden favored only slightly more by Wisconsin voters, with 47% supporting the President and 45% supporting Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris also visited Wisconsin this week.
Thousands of online commenters, the White House and Gov. Tim Walz called GOP U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber out this week for taking credit for the bridge funding, which was part of a package he voted against.
A post on the White House’s X account Monday said: “POV: You voted against President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law but are taking credit for it.”
At the time of the 2021 vote, Stauber, who represents the Eighth Congressional District, said in a statement that the package was not about “real infrastructure.” He called it part of a “bloated” tax-and-spend package that paves a “destructive and irreversible path towards socialism.”
Stauber, a third-term Republican, wrote in a newsletter Tuesday that he got involved in project advocacy with Sens. Tina Smith and Klobuchar, both DFLers, “when it became clear more work needed to be done” to prioritize the bridge.
He said he wouldn’t vote for bills that contain “harmful provisions,” but when “a bill becomes the law of the land, I am going to fight to bring federal dollars back to Minnesota projects.”
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
