Getting around Fond du Lac, Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Fond du Lac neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Fond du Lac is fourteen miles from downtown Duluth and there is no way to make that smaller.
Drive times run about twenty-four minutes to downtown, twenty-two to Miller Hill, twenty-six to Superior, and twenty-eight to the airport. Highway 23, the Evergreen Memorial Highway, is the spine, connecting northeast along the river toward Gary-New Duluth, Morgan Park, and West Duluth, and southwest toward Carlton County. Minnesota Highway 210 ends near the river bridge here and runs west through Jay Cooke. Interstate 35 is reachable via Carlton to the southwest or West Duluth to the northeast.
Transit is effectively absent and needs verification. Far-west service has historically been very limited, and the 2023 DTA redesign concentrated frequency on the core corridors. Assume you need a reliable vehicle, and probably two.
Cycling is recreational. Highway 23 is a fast rural road that is not a comfortable commuting route, and the nearest paved car-free riding is the Munger Trail from the Carlton end.
Winter driving, honestly. This is a long rural highway run in a snow region, and that is the real cost of the address. Duluth averages roughly 90 inches a season on the 1991 to 2020 normals (NWS Duluth, accessed 2026-08-13), and the far west end generally sees somewhat less lake-effect than the east shoreline, so the totals here are usually not the city's worst. What is worse is everything else: a longer drive on a highway that is plowed as a state route rather than a city street, a long driveway to clear yourself, longer power outages, and a longer wait for any emergency vehicle. Households here keep a plan for being stuck at home for a couple of days, and that plan gets used.
Major roads: Minnesota Highway 23 (Evergreen Memorial Highway), Minnesota Highway 210 (eastern terminus), Grand Avenue and the river road northeast, Interstate 35 via Carlton or West Duluth.
Biking: Recreational rather than practical. The Mission Creek end of the Duluth Traverse is the closest singletrack, the Munger Trail gives paved car-free miles from the Carlton end, and Highway 23 is a scenic but fast road that is not a comfortable commuting route.
The hill: River-valley ground on the north bank of the St. Louis River where it comes out of the gorge. Low and close to the water rather than perched on the Duluth hillside, with wooded ridge rising behind. Flood history along the river is a real part of the record here, most recently in 2012.
Getting around next door
The next community northeast along the river, with the nearest gas, convenience, and community facilities.
Morgan ParkNortheast along the river, the 1913 US Steel company town, with level ground and concrete houses.
SmithvilleFurther northeast along the river toward Spirit Valley, with more conventional housing.
Spirit ValleyThe nearest full commercial street in Duluth, about twenty minutes northeast.
CloquetAbout fifteen minutes southwest in Carlton County. For many households here it is the practical shopping town, closer than most of Duluth.