Click on image for video tour

Several weeks back, Roadguy got the chance to view some video-game-like animations of the new Sabo Bridge over Hiawatha Avenue in south Minneapolis. The bridge, which is part of the Midtown Greenway, won’t be done until November 2007, but if you have high-speed Internet access, you can take a virtual tour of it by clicking on the image shown here. (And no, you don’t get to shoot at the cars.) Also, the city’s website has a map of the bridge’s route and location, plus some still images and a shorter-but-higher-resolution version of the video; click here.

Earlier this week I stopped by the office of Dean Michalko, a Hennepin County engineer, and he said that getting bicyclists and pedestrians across Hiawatha at this location posed some serious challenges. The bridge needed to go under some power lines and over the light-rail cables, and because of a left-turn lane, there was no spot to put a support in the middle of the street. The cable-stayed design was deemed the best because it allowed for a thinner, lower bridge deck and didn’t require support from below. It’s the first such bridge in Minnesota.

The bridge will be accessible from both the north and south on both ends (with easier access from the south), and it will be lined with horizontal wire fencing with built-in lighting — in other words, no chain link and no lightposts. There’s also an observation area on the east end, for those who wish to linger and look at the Minneapolis skyline. Other facts:

• Length, including approaches: 2,200 feet
• Main span: 220 feet
• Height of tower: About 100 feet.
• Cost: $5.1 million, mostly from federal and Hennepin County funds.

The bridge will give cyclists an unimpeded trip across Hiawatha, but they’ll now need to cross 28th Street. The bridge also veers to the north quite a bit — about a block and a half — meaning that some Greenway users might still be tempted to cross Hiawatha at street level because it’ll be more direct. (Although waiting to cross Hiawatha anywhere is rarely speedy.)

So, friends, cyclists, pedestrians — check out the animation and share your thoughts. (Note: The comments section is now closed to new comments, but feel free to send me an e-mail with your views.)

This entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Good to know, Transportation conversations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.