A Plan for Safer 6th Ave, With Over a Decade of Community Input

Like many historically redlined neighborhoods, Duluth’s Hillside is impacted by decades of hostile infrastructure. Little green space, roads that prioritize high-speed traffic, insufficient and inadequate pedestrian crossings, inaccessible sidewalks—these conditions in Hillside’s built environment have compounded to contribute to major health disparities for the neighborhood: low- or no-employment, difficulty accessing food and other essential resources, insufficient and inadequate housing, low outdoor activity and access to nature, high social isolation and mental health challenges. Hillside currently has a 12-year life expectancy gap between Duluth’s average and 20-year gap between Park Point’s. Though these numbers tell a story, they can’t begin to describe how Hillsiders feel their neighborhood has been devalued, how so much has been stripped away, and how many have to fight multiple battles everyday simply to survive.

Central to understanding what divides Hillside from the rest of Duluth are the throughways that encapsulate it. Originally a residential street, 6th Avenue East was redesigned in the 1930s as the first state highway bridging Duluth’s outer suburbs to downtown. Though it was decommissioned in 1991 following the construction of I-35 and Mesaba, its 4-lane high-speed design remained, exasperating barriers to safety and health that continue today with high numbers of crashes, abandoned businesses and properties along the corridor, neglected and inaccessible sidewalks and curbs, and the need for students living within blocks of Myers-Wilkins Elementary School to be bussed over 6th Avenue East as it’s deemed unsafe to cross.

Over a decade of community input has directly led to the City of Duluth committing to resurfacing the street in 2025 and beginning a planning process for full reconstruction in 7-10 years to make this outdated highway a place where people can thrive. With the support of SHIP, Zeitgeist has helped community members reimagine this street as a place for people through creative placemaking and public art to on-street demonstrations of pedestrian friendly infrastructure. Facilitated by Zeitgeist’s Healthy Hillside Leadership Team, hundreds of Hillsiders have contributed testimonies about what it’s like to walk, bus, or bike along 6th Avenue East and created visual illustrations (aka vision boards) of what they’d like the corridor to look and feel like to experience safety, health, and connectivity. In 2024, Zeitgeist published this collection as the Healthy Hillside Vision Guide which has become the blueprint for neighborhood wellbeing relating to the four themes of: Safe & Accessible Housing, Support Systems & Resources, Natural & Built Environments, and Social Connection.

Thanks to the clarity of Hillsiders’ visions for the street, the 2025 Resurfacing & Safety Improvement Project on 6th Avenue East is slated to include multiple safety measures, including: a 4-to-3 lane conversion, a 4-block long pedestrian median island, ADA ramps on all curbs, curb bump-outs, crossing enhancements (including a lead pedestrian interval and flashing sign on 9th St), and added green space. While these changes are expected to bring immediate traffic calming, enhanced safety for pedestrians and drivers alike, and corridor beautification, there’s still a ways to go in fully reimagining and transforming transportation on this street to benefit all users. Zeitgeist is excited to continue working hand-in-hand with residents, city planners, community organizations, local businesses, and statewide health improvement programs to bring to life a Safer 6th Avenue East and Healthy Hillside.

Learn more about Safer 6th Avenue East at zeigeistarts.com/community/safer-6th-ave.

Written by Thomlin Swan, Creative Community Collaborator at Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community

Image credit: Safer 6th Avenue East illustration by Tiffany Fenner

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