First off, thanks for all the comments! I brought it up because of that study stating that access to the mall area from the East End and beyond of town needed to be addressed. If I remember right most of the experts said that Central Entrance should have been a direct route to the freeway going East as well. The hospital's location prevented that and so I was thinking where else could you make access to the mall area from the East side of town?  
 
I agree about not wanting a freeway in your neighborhood as I have lived in a few different areas of Endion - including South Street along 35. Let me begin with London Road. The city stated that they would plant trees and had all these pictures of this beautiful area they planned. Years later and it still looks the same. The city used the term "calming traffic," but try to get ice cream or Chinese food and cross at that pedestrian crossing at 17th. Go ahead and bike on London Road and see how well the city is sweeping and maintaining it. And also, the powers that be stopped the bike path at 21st because those businesses had more influence than the ones before 21st. The only reason you have a flashing pedestrian crossing near Fitger's now is because someone was nearly killed when they were hit by a car right there.  The London Road project so far hasn't produced the results the city promised. Also, at certain times of the day the traffic backs up from 21st all the way to about 17th Avenue. Good luck crossing of entering! 
 
Busing and biking. If you bike up Piedmont, God bless you! This town is great to bike around the flatter parts, but pretending this is a bike friendly town is laughable. Our roads and the weather are not conducive for biking. Sure we get voted for the fat tire mountain biking park system, but when our roads are frozen over half of the year who is going to bike down 19th? I do agree that 19th is becoming the new 21st, because when you calm traffic in one area it moves to another. There goes your kids playing in the neighborhood as some college kid on their phone drives 50 mph.
 
Arrowhead Road after Kenwood should have a speed limit of 45 mph. No one drives 30 mph on that stretch unless a police officer is near. It is a major highway already and trying to "calm" it is like hoping that plaque build up in your heart is going to calm you down. The artery just gets smaller and smaller and hey, by the way, let's build a high school up there on Rice Lake Road and Arrowhead! 
                                                                                           
I will agree that Piedmont may have been a bad comparison, but if you have ever lived anywhere else you have seen how these projects can be done nicely. Yes, houses are purchased. Frontage roads and exits are built to accommodate neighborhoods - which actually reduces traffic and makes it easier to get in and out of. Some decent planning could make the area around Kenwood into something that we can all use, but just throwing a building here or there is adding to congestion. Look at how Bluestone has changed the area that was Woodland Middle School. Then try to understand how College Street has no stoplight as it accesses Woodland. Someday they will make it meet up with Bluestone as they tear down houses, but it is a mess. It also is dangerous. Kids have been hit on bikes and it is only time until someone else gets hurt. 
 
I love 21st and the old houses. I also love London Road and those big houses on the lake. Would I want to live in a house right on a busy road, no. Drive up 21st enough times and you will see what is happening to those big old houses. They have college kids climbing on the roofs to party (there goes the roof!). They slowly are being run down as out-of-state or out of city landlords neglect them. Families are moving out and rentals are moving in. Even in the last 10 years I have seen 21st Avenue East change so much. The amount of traffic on that road is staggering. The road itself near McDonald's is dangerous in the winter. We have ice storms that have paralyzed this community, but usually Piedmont is OK.  I dare you to drive 19th, which is where the "calmed" traffic has moved, during the winter. One time last year there were people standing in the road trying to stop cars from coming down and piling up on the others who were all in a tangled mess. Someone is going to get killed. 
 
Arrowhead has changed. The gravel driveways increase, the college rentals grow, and the traffic grows. You can ride your bike or the bus to work, but you can't stop progress. More is being built by the mall, people are moving up there, and the downtown has more and more empty buildings. The tourist areas and other areas are doing fine, but you can see the change.
             
I'd love to live on a street with no traffic. I'd love to ride my bike to work every day of the year. The problem is that Duluth and the way it is set up makes that impossible for many of us to do that. 
 
So in the end how would you handle the issue of getting from the East side of town to the mall area? Do you put your head in the sand and say "not in my backyard" or "sit in your car longer and be happy about it," or do you try to plan ways to accommodate growth and the reality of how this city is changing? Ness wanted the city to grow to over 100k people, but unless you plan how to move those people to jobs and home it cannot happen. 
 
I just thought it was worth discussing.