Quite a lot of the 564 million pounds of concrete and 42 million pounds of steel that will one day span the St. Croix River near Stillwater is sitting on an island in the Mississippi River these days, waiting for the ice to melt.
When the ice breaks up, the bridge segments can be loaded onto barges at Grey Cloud Island, four to six at a time, for a 30-mile journey to their destination.
They will become part of the $626 million St. Croix Crossing bridge, which opens next year.
Eighty workers in a built-for-the-purpose shed (600 feet long, heated all winter to 50 degrees) are spending years creating the "bridge segments."
The segments look a bit like brass knuckles for a three-fingered giant. The top of each one will be the surface that motorists will drive across, little suspecting what went into their creation.
Reporters and photographers were invited last week to the casting yard, one of two that are building the jigsaw-like components that will later be fitted together to make the bridge.
"This is an exciting portion of our work," said project director Michael Beer, as the time approaches to start loading up and moving the segments out.
"Of the 650 segments we're creating on Grey Cloud Island, we've finished 105 so far, taking three to five days for each one," said Paul Kivisto, bridge construction engineer.