Minneapolis has landed the first dollop of roughly $7 million it is seeking to repair the closed Plymouth Avenue bridge.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has awarded the project $2.145 million in state disaster money, department official Julie Skallman said Thursday. She made that decision after a favorable recommendation last week from a panel of local and state engineers who reviewed the bridge.
The money comes from a small portion of state aid to municipal roads and bridges that by law is reserved for situations where a fiscal hardship occurs because a city experiences a disaster or an unforeseen event along a designated state-aid route.
The bridge is part of the city's designated state-aid system. It was closed Oct. 22 after an inspection discovered corrosion in about one-quarter of the cables that hold together the hollow concrete girders that comprise much of the bridge.
City Engineer Steve Kotke said the Florida bridge consultant hired to engineer the repair project has determined that the work can be done for close to $7 million. Previous estimates ran as high as $10 million.
The roughly $5 million the city would need to finish the work is tied up in the budget battle between Gov. Mark Dayton, who proposed a bonding bill with enough money to repair the bridge, and Republican legislative majorities who say bonding can wait until next year.
The bridge consultant, Corven Engineering, urged that the compromised cables be dug out, replaced and retightened. It also recommended that the bridge deck either be sealed against salt or resurfaced.
The corrosion stems from dampness believed to be from snowmelt and rain passing through the hollow girders via drainage channels. Newer bridges of similar design run channels outside the girders.
