Getting back to normal: The 35W bridge reopens

-- Jamie Christianson

It was just short of 14 months ago when the widely held, widely used I-35W bridge ruinously failed its carried vehicles, plunging into the banks of theMississippi River below and galvanizing a flurry of muddled transportationissues.

On Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, at approximately 5 a.m., the gap of the existing bridge now filled and replaced with a new-fangled “smarter” one, opened its service to the public. Completed three months prematurely on budget (within the means of a cool $234 million), the new St. Anthony Falls (35W) Bridge—otherwise labeled as the “Smart Bridge”—is evidently different from its former.

Constructed out of concrete (more specifically, concrete box girders conjoined with steel cables), the near-blinding-it’s-so-white bridge is enclosed with 323 data-collecting sensors prepared to signal any diminutive threatening problems that may surface before the problems swell. These sensors will keep track of how well the bridge tolerates Minnesota’s climate, how well the bridge handles heavy loads and will also record the corrosion that arises from road salt. This, in turn, will assist engineers with looking after and sustaining the new bridge.

A far cry from the old steel bridge which was significantly less supervised and continuously pegged as “structurally deficient” by foreseers such as Mn/DOT and the federal government.

The design of the new bridge showcases a more lucid view of the skyline, a feature void of the old bridge. The new bridge is equipped with 10 lanes of traffic, a 100-year lifespan, is 76 feet wider than the old bridge (which clocked in at 113 feet wide), has shoulders (another missing feature of the old bridge) and is readily available for future transportation demands such as the Light Rail Transport.

Arteries used as alternates during the new bridge construction will go back to normal for the most part. Highway 280 will retreat to its former self, finished off with at-grade intersections and stoplights, and Interstate 94 will likely stay the way it is.