DULUTH, Minn. — After six years of work and a $6.4 million investment, Duluth’s popular Brighton Beach is back. On Monday afternoon, Duluth officially reopened the reconfigured Lake Superior park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The project has extended the Lakewalk up the shore, separating it from Brighton Beach Drive, into which the path previously spilled. Now the roadway has moved inland, and the Lakewalk has its own space, devoid of motorized traffic. Prior to the project, Brighton Beach Drive was repeatedly pummeled by storms and repeatedly rebuilt, as Jim Filby Williams, the city’s director of parks, libraries and properties, recalled. “Our park maintenance and street maintenance staff have probably no more closely identified with Sisyphus as they have in this park,” Filby Williams said, referring to the recurring damage the park has sustained in recent years and the repeated repairs that followed. In the Greek myth, Sisyphus pushes a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back to the bottom each time he nears the top. This happens repeatedly to Sisyphus throughout eternity. Filby Williams invoked the scene just six years previous. “For the third time in three years, much of Brighton Beach Road had again been destroyed after yet another Lake Superior storm disaster. Park maintenance and street staff were preparing yet again to clean up the debris and repair the damage, with the dispiriting knowledge that they would be back to do the same expensive, labor-intensive cleanup and reconstruction over and over years into the future,” he said. The redesigned park, which serves as a gateway for travelers to the North Shore, offers a far brighter future, in Filby Williams’ estimation. “I am very confident that this reconfigured park will be resilient and durable, even in the face of the more intense and frequent storms we’re seeing with climate change,” he said. Filby Williams said the redone park provides a safer environment for walkers, bikers and motorists. It also offers improved access to the lake for the general public. Filby Willliams said the city was compelled not just by its legal obligation to comply with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “But it is a value of the city of Duluth to serve all of our citizens. So, we’re really excited about improving accessibility, knowing that it helps people with disabilities to enjoy the park. But it also makes the park far easier to access and enjoy for those many people who may not have a disability per se but are growing older and are experiencing physical limitations of sorts,” he said. Filby Williams predicts the community will be pleased with the results. “The opportunity was not only to move infrastructure out of harm’s way, but to take the opportunity to naturalize the shore,” he said, pointing out that the city reopened tributary streams that had previously been routed through culverts. Mayor Roger Reinert acknowledged the lengthy staff planning that went into the Brighton Beach project and credited his predecessor, Emily Larson, for setting it in motion. Filby Williams said the city’s work to stabilize its shoreline and recreational amenities is far from done, however. Next year, staff hope to reconstruct Duluth’s downtown Lakewalk from the corner of the lake to 26th Avenue East at a cost of about $10 million. Even after Duluth completes work on its waterfront, Filby Williams said the city likely faces “a far greater lift” to upgrade upland parks and properties to better survive more frequent flash floods. Park Planner Cliff Knettel said the city received numerous inquiries as to why the Brighton Beach project was taking so long. “The reality is that this involved four separate projects. First, there was the trail extension. Second, were the shoreline improvements. Third, were the park improvements. And then fourth, was the road. They all involved different funding sources — state, federal and local — and they don’t always align 100%. But the fact that we could get them to align within a four-year span was huge because otherwise, it could have a decade or more,” Knettel said. For its part, the city footed about $4.1 million of the bill. Related Articles Outdoors | Minnesota railroads share in $2.4 billion worth of federal transportation improvement grants Outdoors | Barely half of Minnesota men are organ donors. A former Vikings player and kidney recipient says that’s not enough. Outdoors | Detroit Lakes man killed on mission trip in Angola, Africa Outdoors | Poll: Harris, Trump remain in tight race in Minnesota as finish line nears Outdoors | Letters: It’s all good until $200 million goes missing