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Home | Local + Metro | The I-35W bridge collapse

35W bridge wreckage still has no home

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Twisted pieces of steel from the I-35W bridge litter city parkland on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, and the Minneapolis Park Board wants MnDOT to remove them from the Bohemian Flats area.

MnDOT wants to remove the remaining I-35W girders from city parkland, but a judge won't grant it immunity.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

Last update: June 8, 2009 - 11:45 PM

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Minnesota bridges rated: An interactive map of bridges that are "structurally deficient," "functionally obsolete" or have gusset plates like those on the I-35W bridge.

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Nearly two years after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, the bridge girders littering nearby Bohemian Flats parkland in Minneapolis are caught between a lawsuit and an impatient city Park Board.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation this spring sought a judge's permission to move the twisted pieces of steel from the Mississippi riverfront.

The court said MnDOT could move the wreckage, but it wasn't willing to order the legal protection for doing so that MnDOT sought.

Now, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which claims that tying up the park is costing it about $60,000 annually, has denied MnDOT's request to extend its permit, which expires on Monday. That move actually bolsters MnDOT's case that it ought to be granted protection from legal consequences if it moves the wreckage, said Scott Vreeland, the park commissioner representing the area.

The issue comes before the court because some defendants -- in lawsuits pending from 117 survivors and relatives of victims from the bridge collapse -- want the girders preserved in place. Attorney Dick Nygaard, representing some of the victims, said under Minnesota law, spoiling evidence so that it can't be used to prove a case causes legal liability.

The green-and-orange girders and other bridge parts lie on a 7-acre site between West River Parkway and the river, where they were placed after the wreckage was cleared. According to MnDOT, the girders are arranged in a way that replicates their position before the collapse. MnDOT estimates the value of the steel there at more than $80,000.

The Park Board wants the storage site to return to its original use as a park. Park officials say they're losing $16,000 annually because a pay parking lot there is blocked by the security fence surrounding the girders, and another $20,000 because a private excursion boat can't operate there.

The park system also has been awarded federal grants totaling $470,000 to erect a picnic shelter and restroom at the site, but park staff estimate the delay has already added $23,500 in inflationary costs.

"We're not letting them sit there ad infinitum," said park planner Nick Eoloff.

MnDOT told park officials in seeking a six-month extension that it couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't be back seeking more time if the dispute over evidence isn't resolved.

"It isn't a battle between us and MnDOT at all," Vreeland said. "It's two agencies trying to develop an exit strategy. It helps MnDOT go to the court and say, 'We've got to go.'"

But in denying MnDOT's request for protection if it moves the steel, Hennepin County District Judge Deborah Hedlund noted, "The Court cannot find that obstructing the use of a city park constitutes good cause to issue a protective order."

MnDOT proposed to move the bridge parts to an Afton site that already contains other bridge parts considered least important to investigators. But some would need to be cut in order to fit on trucks.

Defendants URS, Progressive Contractors and Jacobs Engineering Group objected to MnDOT's proposed order protecting it for moving the steel, arguing that until all potential theories of liability for the collapse are known and explored, they can't determine which cuts to the steel would affect their experts' abilities to form opinions.

MnDOT said it is now considering its options for dealing with the storage issue.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

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