St. Croix River Crossing: Not an albatross, a necessity

The men and women of Minnesota's building trades have been fortunate to work with U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum on projects within her district such as the Central Corridor and the Union Depot. These projects have made our region stronger and have created jobs that support thousands of families.

However, we strongly oppose the congresswoman's views on the St. Croix River Crossing, a project that is outside of her district ("St. Croix River Crossing is an albatross," Jan. 9).

Not only will the new bridge address a decades-old public safety problem, it will create thousands of jobs at a time when job creation has never been more important to trades and labor families.

The Stillwater Lift Bridge is 80 years old. It is fracture-critical and functionally obsolete. The bridge and the roads leading to it have an accident rate that is double the state average.

It was built in 1931 to handle 11,000 vehicles per day, but today an average of 18,000 vehicles per day use it.

I live in Washington County and can speak from experience: This bridge must be replaced as soon as possible.

As McCollum correctly notes, there are many deficient bridges in Minnesota, but the state Department of Transportation believes that this one is among the worst. It would be a mistake for elected officials to attempt to override the judgment of professional bridge engineers to put their projects at the front of the line for construction.

The new bridge would be roughly the same width as the Marshall Street Bridge that connects St. Paul and Minneapolis -- a bridge that is about a mile away from the Interstate 94 bridge over the Mississippi River.

In construction, costs never decrease by waiting longer, and a new crossing will only become more expensive if delayed further. Already, the total cost of the crossing has grown from less than $100 million to $633 million, largely due to delays caused by bureaucracy and lawsuits.

As policymakers from both parties talk about creating jobs, the men and women of the construction trades in Minnesota and Wisconsin are excited to get to work on this bridge. At the peak of construction, more than 6,000 people will be employed, either in construction jobs or in support roles.

Total construction wages for the project are estimated at $200 million. Given the high rate of unemployment in the construction sector, our workers and their families need these jobs as badly as the people of the St. Croix Valley need a safe, reliable river crossing.

Twenty-five years is long enough to wait for a bridge. It's time to move forward.