Ferries, anyone?
Posted on April 25th, 2008 – 10:45 AMBy James Shiffer
At 10 a.m. Friday, the decrepit Lowry Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis closed forever to traffic. An hour earlier, on the other side of town, the state closed the 46th Street bridge that spans the widening urban trench of 35W. The 50th Street bridge over 35W is still more air than concrete. Down in Richfield and Bloomington, the 76th Street bridge shuts down on Monday for six months and the American Boulevard overpass is already closed, the victim of improper roadbed fill. Further up the Mississippi in St. Cloud, the DeSoto Bridge was shut down abruptly in March because of warped gusset plates and will soon be demolished. And of course, it will be months before Minneapolis traffic can once again cross the Mississippi on 35W. The story’s not much better for those on foot: a little footbridge over railroad tracks in Dinkytown was shut down in March, and one of my favorite bridges, the 78-year-old pedestrian bridge that links Bryant Avenue over Minnehaha Creek, had plywood barriers installed on either end this month because of crumbling concrete supports and rusty bolts.
My diligent colleague Roadguy has been busy chronicling these disappearing bridges, and reports this morning that a Hennepin County Sheriff’s squad car with its flashers on was guarding the newly-abandoned Lowry Bridge.
If I’ve missed any missing bridges, please alert Roadguy.
23 Responses to “Ferries, anyone?”
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April 25th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Your destination for righting wrongs, uncovering injustices big and small and holding people, companies and government accountable.
Interesting concept, James.
Will this also apply to the Strib?
Will you post all comments, or will you be selective or politically correct if the management doesn’t agree?
April 25th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Robert, I think this is a concept that applies to our news organization as a whole. We will post all comments that abide by the online conduct provisions of our terms of use (http://www.startribune.com/help/11484216.html) .
In a nutshell, we can’t post comments that make factually false, harassing, obscene or defamatory statements. We want whistleblower readers to send us reports of suspected wrongdoing or negligence, but we’ll have to verify it before publishing anything about it.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:45 am
How about a ferry for crossing the Mississippi River at Hastings? The Hwy 61 bridge will be down to one lane, and traffic backed way up, with LONG waits, while they are doing repairs this summer.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:58 am
The East Brainerd Crow Wing County Road 25 spanning over the Mississippi North of Brainerd is also currently closed…
April 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Thank you for responding. My guess is that this will be very similar to Kate Parry’s ex blog site where she would only post comments that she seemed to agree with. She would often post comments, and later delete them. This is similar to the editorial blog site which has virtually no activity.
I believe a blog site should be a forum for discussion. I fear your employer may not agree.
I guess we’ll see.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Well, I will be interested to see the crime drop off in NE. Verifiable factual evidence exists that when the Lowry Bridge was closed in prior years, crime in NE drops.
A great day for the people in the area.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I get the feeling that this blog is mostly populated by annoyed journalists.
But I will enter anyway.
Closing the 46th bridge when the 50th bridge is still down is lunacy. Can someone find out how this happened? Are the people who planned the reconstruction in Iraq working in Minneapolis now?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Off the top of my head you missed the old Cedar Avenue bridge which was being used by pedestrians to cross the river in Bloomington, but was closed a couple of years ago due to disrepair. The Wacouta bridge (boondoggle) has been half closed for years due to construction. Finally, the Lyndale Avenue bridge over 494 is set to close shortly for reconstruction creating the bridge closure tifecta between it and the American Blvd and 77th street bridges you already mentioned.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Robert-
Have you seen the comments on any of the Vikings related blogs/articles? That should be some indication of the level of comments this site is willing to publish. I would assume a coherent argument whether for or against the story would be published.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
S Allexsaht says,
Are the people who planned the reconstruction in Iraq working in Minneapolis now?
What does that mean?
Have you been deployed?
Are you military/ex-military?
What “people” are you referring to?