[Speed Gibson,
Friday September 7, 2007 at 7:56am]
Beauty's Only Skin Deep
In my latest daring quest to walk all the streets of Minneapolis, my Labor Day route took me over the Lowry Avenue bridge, up Marshall Avenue, then to Camden across the 42nd Avenue bridge.
The Lowry Avenue Bridge was one my father really liked because of its mesh decking that allows rain and snow to simply drop through to the river below. Actually, this bridge also spans a Soo Line track on the west side, so the trains get some of the drippings, too.
This is a nice looking bridge, recently repainted in a pleasing dark green color. On the bridge itself, the views upstream and downstream are the stuff of picture postcards, especially with the river flowing broadly now that the drought is over.
The bridge itself gives one confidence, massive steel, joined with large bolts, nuts, and rivets all in plain view. But as pretty as it looks, as sound as it looks, it is also Hennepin County's number one priority for replacement. As you can read via the above link, one of its supporting piers was found to have shifted 11 inches. That has been addressed, but it's also 50 years old. Some components, presumably in the pilings and supports, were reused from the 1905 structure. The deck plates have to be re-welded every year now.
The cost of replacement as reported on KSTP-TV is about 30 to 40 million dollars, to be part of the 2008 bonding bill most likely. According to the link, the average vehicle count is 16,600 per day (2001). That's vehicles, meaning it probably carries well over 20,000 people per day, on par with the Hiawatha Line, which cost close to one billion dollars, over 20 times as much. Plus, the Lowry bridge carries trucks and other commercial traffic.
Like the Stillwater Lift Bridge and some other overdue projects, it's time to replace this venerable, important bridge. If the 2008 Legislature passes on this only to spend $200 billion or so on the Central Corridor and Northstar lines as I've heard would be absurd.
The Lowry Avenue Bridge was one my father really liked because of its mesh decking that allows rain and snow to simply drop through to the river below. Actually, this bridge also spans a Soo Line track on the west side, so the trains get some of the drippings, too.
This is a nice looking bridge, recently repainted in a pleasing dark green color. On the bridge itself, the views upstream and downstream are the stuff of picture postcards, especially with the river flowing broadly now that the drought is over.
The bridge itself gives one confidence, massive steel, joined with large bolts, nuts, and rivets all in plain view. But as pretty as it looks, as sound as it looks, it is also Hennepin County's number one priority for replacement. As you can read via the above link, one of its supporting piers was found to have shifted 11 inches. That has been addressed, but it's also 50 years old. Some components, presumably in the pilings and supports, were reused from the 1905 structure. The deck plates have to be re-welded every year now.
The cost of replacement as reported on KSTP-TV is about 30 to 40 million dollars, to be part of the 2008 bonding bill most likely. According to the link, the average vehicle count is 16,600 per day (2001). That's vehicles, meaning it probably carries well over 20,000 people per day, on par with the Hiawatha Line, which cost close to one billion dollars, over 20 times as much. Plus, the Lowry bridge carries trucks and other commercial traffic.
Like the Stillwater Lift Bridge and some other overdue projects, it's time to replace this venerable, important bridge. If the 2008 Legislature passes on this only to spend $200 billion or so on the Central Corridor and Northstar lines as I've heard would be absurd.