March 22: Replace St. Cloud bridge? Or repair it?

Dave Schwarz, St. Cloud Times via AP

The Highway 23 bridge across the Mississippi River in St. Cloud (Aug. 1, 2007)

State officials are wrestling with the alternatives. One thing is certain: It will remain closed. The detour frustrates commuters.

By JIM FOTI, Star Tribune

Last update: April 10, 2008 - 9:15 AM

Replacing the troubled Hwy. 23 bridge in St. Cloud would cost $25 million to $35 million, state officials said Friday, even as they consulted with bridge experts about whether the 51-year-old structure could ever reopen.

"We don't know if there are repairs that would be appropriate or possible to the bridge, and the bridge will remain closed until it can either be repaired into safe condition or it is replaced," Bob McFarlin, acting transportation commissioner, said Friday.

He said that the Minnesota Department of Transportation is taking a "dual-track" approach, meeting with University of Minnesota experts about whether the bridge's bent gusset plates can somehow be remedied as an interim measure and talking with elected officials about funding and possible timing for replacing the bridge.

A replacement was originally planned for 2015, and state officials had already been looking to move that date up.

The bridge was closed Thursday afternoon after a visual inspection found a slight bending in four of the bridge's gusset plates.

The St. Cloud bridge had the same designer as the 35W bridge in Minneapolis and the bridges had a similar steel deck truss design.

In January, when the National Transportation Safety Board cited a design flaw in the gussets as a likely key factor in the 35W collapse, MnDOT had already been doing an "engineering check" of original designs for the St. Cloud bridge to look for similar flaws.

Recalculations for the Hwy. 23 span found that the gussets were properly sized, said Dan Dorgan, state bridge engineer, and Thursday's look at the plates was part of that review. He attributed the bending to "load issues."

"Now what would have been the heavy load ... that caused it, we don't know," he said.

On the streets

All was quiet on Good Friday on the bridge in St. Cloud -- no cars, no pedestrians, no inspectors, and no real reason to plow the falling snow.

Engineers at MnDOT's St. Cloud office noted that the detour for the bridge takes drivers six blocks out of the way, adding about three to four minutes to a trip in light traffic.

State Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, hopes that a replacement bridge can proceed with some of the speed that's been the hallmark of the 35W bridge reconstruction. State funding is available, federal help might be possible and a design-build process could be used to speed things up, she said.

The Hwy. 23 bridge is a major link not only for St. Cloud but also for the state, she said. Much of the bridge's traffic comes from outside the local area, she said, and if it takes several years to get a new crossing, "I don't know how the community is going to make it."

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491