There were three rerouting options proposed: West – Following State Highway 37 and Saint Louis County Road 7. Center – Through the Auburn Pit; on the south side of the existing route of Highway 53. East – Around and across the Rouchleau Pit; on the north side of the existing route of Highway 53. The East route was selected for the project and construction began in November 2015, with the realignment reaching completion in 2017. On September 15, the new roadway was opened, with a dedication of the bridge spanning the Rouchleau Pit. The bridge is the tallest in the state at in height. Falls-to-Falls Corridor The Falls-to-Falls Corridor (officially The Falls-to-Falls Corridor—United States Route 53 from International Falls on the Minnesota/Canada border to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin) is, by the United States federal government, a recognized trade corridor. In the 1990s, the federal government listed the corridor as a priority for development. The primary development planned is infrastructure-related, specifically, a highway project hoped to spur economic development in northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota by upgrading U.S. Highway 53 to full expressway standards from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to International Falls, Minnesota. Interstate Highway 535 forms the only section of the route that is part of the Interstate Highway System. Wisconsin With the exception of a stretch as a four-lane city surface street (East Second Street) in the city of Superior, the entire route within Wisconsin is completed to freeway or expressway standards. On the south end of the corridor, the connection to Interstate Highway 94 is a stretch through the Eau Claire-Chippewa Falls conurbation. After years of legal and political wrangling, the decision was made in the late 1990s to bypass the current route, rather than to upgrade the present highway to freeway standards. The northern half of this bypass, as far south as WIS 312 was opened to traffic in mid-2005. The southern half of the bypass, which includes a pair of multilane bridges over the Eau Claire River, goes mostly through Altoona and includes interchanges with WIS 312, U.S. Highway 12 and WIS 93. This project won multiple awards in 2005 and 2006. This section of the bypass was opened mid-morning on August 21, 2006. Minnesota Federal funding for the project in northern Minnesota was $940,000 in 2003 and nearly $600,000 in 2004. At present, with the exception of stretch within the city of Duluth (Piedmont Avenue and Trinity