There are few places in Duluth where you can experience the raw power of Lake Superior quite like Brighton Brighton Beach has always belonged to Lake Superior as much as it belongs to Duluth. For generations, we’ve gathered along its rocky shoreline to watch sunrises, skip rocks, picnic with family and experience the big lake up close. Photographers have captured everything from spectacular sunrises to November waves crashing against the ancient basalt ledges
Maybe we got a little too close.
After powerful storms repeatedly sent waves across the road and tore apart the shoreline, Duluth began a years-long, $6.4 million effort to rethink and rebuild one of the city’s most beloved places along Lake Superior.
In the late 2010s, Lake Superior began reminding us who was really in charge. Being too close to the Great Gitchee Gummi can consume most everything when she’s angry
The storms of 2017 and 2018 hammered Duluth’s shoreline. Record-high lake levels, powerful winds and relentless waves repeatedly flooded Brighton Beach Drive, broke apart pavement and eroded the shoreline. Nearby sections of the Lakewalk suffered millions of dollars in damage.
It became pretty clear that rebuilding the road in the same place and waiting for the next big storm wasn’t much of a plan.
Duluth needed to give Lake Superior a little more room.
The Brighton Beach Mini-Master Plan, adopted in 2019, called for moving Brighton Beach Drive farther inland and giving Lake Superior more room to do what Lake Superior does.
The Lakewalk was extended through the park on its own dedicated trail, separating walkers and cyclists from vehicles. Shoreline protection was added along with native plantings, improved drainage, accessible pathways, picnic areas and gathering spaces. The goal was to preserve what people love about Brighton Beach while making the park better able to handle future storms.
It was a long process.
The Lakewalk extension opened in 2021, with major shoreline and park improvements continuing through 2024. When Kitchi Gammi Park officially reopened in October 2024, more than $6.4 million had been invested in Brighton Beach.
Besides the new one-way road and parking, new restroom facilities, Brighton Beach today has the look and feel of the old Brighton Beach. The rock ledges are still there. So are the waves, the sunrises, the fire pit, the picnic tables and plenty of places to sit and watch Lake Superior put on a show.
What is different is how the park meets the lake.
Moving the road inland opened more of the shoreline to people while giving waves and winter storms more room along the water’s edge. The Lakewalk now connects Brighton Beach with Duluth’s miles of waterfront trail, and the improvements make the park easier for people of all abilities to enjoy.
After years of storms, damage, planning and construction, one of Duluth’s favorite places along Lake Superior is back.
Brighton Beach is still the place generations of Duluthians remember.
It’s just a little brighter.
