Getting around Smithville, Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Smithville neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Smithville is a car neighborhood at a real distance, with unusually good bicycle access to open country.
Drive times run about twenty-two minutes to downtown, twenty to the Miller Hill corridor, twenty-four to the airport and twenty-four to Superior. Grand Avenue is the spine, connecting northeast toward West Duluth and southwest toward Gary-New Duluth, Fond du Lac and Carlton County. Skyline Parkway runs the ridge above, with sections closed to vehicles in winter.
The useful mental adjustment, and it is the same one Fond du Lac requires, is that Cloquet is a genuine second town. At about eighteen minutes southwest it carries a full grocery, pharmacy, hardware and restaurants, and it is a comparable drive to West Duluth. Many households here use Carlton County for shopping and drive into Duluth only for work, school and medical appointments.
Transit is likely absent and needs confirming. Far-west service has historically been very limited.
Cycling is genuinely good once you are off Grand Avenue, which is a fast arterial. The Munger corridor is minutes away and gives paved car-free riding all the way to Jay Cooke and beyond, and both far-west ends of the Duluth Traverse are about ten minutes.
Winter driving is a long rural-feeling run. Duluth averages 90.2 inches of snow a season on the 1991 to 2020 normals (NWS Duluth, accessed 2026-08-13), and the far west generally sees less lake-effect than the eastern shoreline, so the totals here are usually not the city's worst. What is harder is everything else: a longer drive on an arterial, hillside parcels with their own grades and access, longer power outages, and a longer wait for any emergency vehicle.
Biking: Strong for a small far-west neighborhood. The Munger Trail corridor is within a few minutes, giving 70 paved car-free miles, and the Mission Creek and Spirit Mountain ends of the Duluth Traverse are both about ten minutes. Skyline Parkway above is a classic road ride. Grand Avenue itself is a fast arterial.
Getting around next door
North along the river, sharing the same Census tract and the same owner-heavy river-corridor profile, with direct Spirit Lake frontage.
Morgan ParkEast along the river, the 1913 US Steel company town built almost entirely of concrete block.
Gary-New DuluthImmediately south, the nearest everyday services and the closest published price anchor in the far west.
Norton ParkNortheast, where the Munger and Western Waterfront trails begin and Indian Point gives boat access.
Fond du LacSouthwest along the river, the oldest community in Duluth and quieter still.