Contract well below budget awarded for Hastings Bridge

Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune
Updated: July 1, 2010 - 5:37 PM

The four-lane span will have a "tied-arch" design and feature a pedestrian-bike path underneath.

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A $120 million contract has been awarded for construction of a "tied-arch" design for the new Hastings Bridge over the Mississippi River, state transportation officials announced Wednesday.

The Hwy. 61 bridge, intended to last 100 years, will be built by the Lunda/Ames design team, whose bid came in about $100 million under the project's price cap.

Construction is scheduled to begin in October, with two-lane traffic opening in the summer of 2012 and completion of all four lanes in the late spring of 2013.

It is being built to the west of the current two-lane bridge. The 59-year-old bridge will stay open while the new one is built.

State bridge inspection reports from 1997 through 2007 indicated that the current bridge's physical condition had worsened over the years with corrosion, broken bearings, rotting sidewalks and crumbling concrete.

Highlights of the new bridge include:

• Four lanes, two in each direction.

• A 12-foot-wide pedestrian and bike path that will run beneath the bridge.

• A plaza south of 2nd Street.

• Parking beneath the bridge between 2nd Street and the river.

• An anti-icing system similar to the one on the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis.

The tied-arch design literally means that twin arches are tied together with crisscrossing rods.

Lunda/Ames was chosen over builders who offered another tied-arch design and a cable design. Lunda is based in Black River Falls, Wis. Ames Construction is in Burnsville.

A mandatory five-day waiting period ends Monday, when the contract will receive final approval.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482