With a spring to his step, Junior Salas became the first person to cross the Mississippi River on the new Interstate 35W bridge Saturday.
"I felt like a king," said Salas after crossing the remaining 7-foot gap on a metal catwalk.
Salas, the erection superintendent for Flatiron Construction, was one of more than 20 workers helping join the two remaining precast segments with the rest of the northbound portion of the bridge.
Hundreds of people watched from the nearby 10th Avenue Bridge as both segments -- each weighing 150 tons -- were lifted into place Saturday afternoon. They were joined with steel rods, cables and pressure, leaving just 7 feet between the ends of the bridge.
The gap will be poured and cast high above the river instead of being brought in, ready-made, from below. A powerful jack also was installed to push the two sides of the bridge a few inches farther apart. When the final segment is cured the two sides will be released, exerting pressure that will help hold everything in place.
That process is expected to begin next week and could take days before it is complete, said Kevin Gutknecht, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
"It's a small milestone for us, but there's still quite a bit of work left to do," said Mick Wilson, a superintendent from Flatiron, who has overseen work on the bridge since November of last year. "Just because that segment is done doesn't mean we're done."
The bridge is about 80 percent complete, said Jon Chiglo, MnDOT's project manager for the I-35W reconstruction. The bridge is expected to open to traffic in September, about 13 months after last year's collapse.
