Portion of Crosstown will close Friday for bridge work

Parts of the Crosstown Commons will be closed overnight Friday and into Saturday as work continues on a temporary bridge that sagged slightly and caused a freeway shutdown on Monday.

By Jim Foti and Paul Walsh, Star Tribune

Last update: October 30, 2007 - 8:21 PM

Parts of the Crosstown Commons will be closed overnight Friday and into Saturday as work continues on a temporary bridge that sagged slightly and caused a freeway shutdown on Monday.

A slightly bent bridge beam prompted the northbound lanes of Interstate 35W near Hwy. 62 to be closed during afternoon rush hour on Monday.

Construction contractors and state engineers looked over the temporary bridge Tuesday and determined that it was supporting too much blacktop, said state Transportation Department spokesman Kent Barnard. Some of the asphalt has been removed, the bridge's alignment will be altered and median barriers will be adjusted, he said.

"I want to assure the public that there is nothing to fear" about the safety of the one-lane bridge, Barnard said.

The temporary bridge is supposed to carry westbound traffic on Hwy. 62 over 35W until the fall of 2009 while crews remove and replace the old bridge. The highway reopened to traffic Monday at 5:24 p.m. after the situation was deemed safe, Barnard said.

"At no time at all was anybody in any danger. We were not fearing that there would be a bridge collapse," he said.

Starting at 10 p.m. Friday, 35W's northbound lanes will be closed from Hwy. 62 up to 46th Street. The lanes are expected to reopen Saturday afternoon. Also, westbound Hwy. 62 will be closed between Portland and Lyndale avenues from 10 p.m. Friday through "early morning Saturday," a MnDOT news release said.

Detours will be posted.

PAUL WALSH, JIM FOTI

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