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Transportation
Euan Kerr

Duluth bridge project to restart after construction disturbed burial ground

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A group of workers recover buried remains.
Members of the burial recovery crew, most of whom are members or descendants of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, use soil sifters to look for bones and other artifacts at the MnDOT project site on Highway 23 in Duluth's Fond du Lac neighborhood in 2018.
Courtesy of Duluth News Tribune

A bridge project just south of Duluth will begin again from scratch after construction work disturbed an Indian cemetery.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation halted the Mission Creek project in spring 2017 after a neighbor reported concerns about a burial site and workers uncovered human remains. MnDOT apologized at the time to the Fond du Lac Ojibwe community. Many were angered that the desecration happened despite five years of development and planning.

MnDOT Information officer Stephanie Christensen said the state archaeologist has been completing recovery work ever since the work was halted.

"We started putting soil back next week, and once all the soil is returned, the state archaeologist can designate and once we know the boundaries of the cemetery we can begin the development process."

Christensen said the area around the cemetery will also be landscaped. The planning process usually takes about three years, although Christensen says MnDOT will try to get it done sooner.

"The main issue with the bridge is to address flooding concerns and so of course that is something important that we want to get done. However we are addressing that through other ways in the meantime," she said.