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City hires James Gittemeier to serve as Senior Transportation Planner

[Duluth, MN] The City of Duluth is pleased to announce the hiring of James Gittemeier as the senior transportation planner. Mr. Gittemeier replaces Kris Liljeblad, who retired from the City in 2021.

Mr. Gittemeier joins the City after spending 18 years at the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council (MIC). At the MIC, James was the lead staff person for the Transportation Improvement Program, the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and coordinated the development of a variety of transportation plans in Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor and Superior including of the Proctor Transportation Plan, On-Street Bike Routes Implementation, Public Involvement Plan Update and the Downtown Artist Design Bike Rack Project. He also assisted with various committees, including the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets Taskforce Fit City Duluth’s Active Living Committee, among other assignments.

“We are excited for James to join our team with his twenty years of transportation and community planning experience and expertise in leading public processes,” Adam Fulton, Deputy Director of Planning & Economic Development, said. “He will add great value to our transportation project coordination and partnership building and will support and expand upon the department’s commitment to supporting reinvestment and new investment in the community’s transportation systems.”

Mr. Gittemeier has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Urban Affairs from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and a Master's of Urban Planning from the University of Kansas.

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve in the role as the city’s senior transportation planner,” Gittemeier said. “I look forward to working together with the community as we strive to find solutions to the complex, multi-faceted, and ever-expanding set of transportation needs of the city.”

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