page_title: Twin Ports
hierarchical_section_title: Twin Ports
caption_attribution_description: English: The twin ports, Superior, Wisconsin, Duluth, Minnesota. H. Wellge, del. Freeman Eng. Co.
context_page_description: The Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, are located at the western part of Lake Superior and together are considered the largest freshwater port in the world. They are twin cities and seaports, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  The Twin Ports are at the core of the U.S. Census Bureau's "Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area", which includes all of Wisconsin's Douglas County, and Minnesota's Carlton and Saint Louis counties. With a 2010 census population of 279,771, the Duluth MSA ranked as the 165th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
  The area is home to two long bridges: the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge and the John Blatnik Bridge. Each bridge reaches across more than 1.5 miles across the mouth of the Saint Louis River. The Aerial Lift Bridge was constructed in 1905 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It must be raised each time a vessel enters or leaves Duluth's harbor; the inlet on the Wisconsin side is not similarly obstructed.
context_section_description: The Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, are located at the western part of Lake Superior (the westernmost of North America's Great Lakes) and together are considered the largest freshwater port in the world. They are twin cities and seaports, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  The Twin Ports are at the core of the U.S. Census Bureau's "Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area", which includes all of Wisconsin's Douglas County, and Minnesota's Carlton and Saint Louis counties.  With a 2010 census population of 279,771, the Duluth MSA ranked as the 165th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
  The area is home to two long bridges: the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge (carrying U.S. Highway 2) and the John Blatnik Bridge (carrying I-535 and U.S. Highway 53).  Each bridge reaches across more than 1.5 miles (2.5 km) across the mouth of the Saint Louis River.  The Aerial Lift Bridge was constructed in 1905 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It must be raised each time a vessel enters or leaves Duluth's harbor; the inlet on the Wisconsin side is not similarly obstructed.
  Together, the cities rank as the 19th-busiest port in the country overall (44.2 million short tons [40.1 million tonnes] per year) as of 2002, though the area is the 7th-busiest port (13.8 million short tons [12.5 million tonnes] per year) when measured on foreign exports alone.
caption: 1915 Panoramic map of the Twin Ports, Superior on the left and Duluth on the right, by Henry Wellge
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