Walking atop the new St. Croix River bridge, one's first sensation is its vast reach, now that it connects the urban banks of Minnesota to the forested bluffs of Wisconsin.
High above the broad river last week, hundreds of workers wearing hoodies and hard hats leaned into a stiff wind, doing their part to ensure the bridge opens for traffic early next fall.
"People are amazed, when they're up close, at the enormity of the bridge and the segments," said Michael Beer, the Minnesota Department of Transportation manager overseeing the project.
There is nothing modest about the mile-long bridge, which rises to staggering heights above the water under concrete towers braced with massive silver cables that gleam in the sun.
The two-state project, now estimated to cost $617 million to $646 million, includes extensive highway construction on both sides of the river to funnel traffic onto the four-lane structure.
To onlookers on land, the bridge looks substantially complete. The span, for the first time unbroken, dwarfs the 85-year-old, two-lane Stillwater bridge just 2 miles upstream that it will replace.
Built to outlast most everyone who has witnessed its construction, the new bridge crosses a portion of the river known as Lake St. Croix, connecting Hwy. 36 in Oak Park Heights with Hwy. 35 in St. Joseph Township on the Wisconsin side.
"It's going to be a beautiful bridge, here for the long haul, 100-plus years," Beer said.