Aug 1, 2007 6:37 am US/Central
Bridge Needs Upgrade To Support LRT
Minneapolis (AP) ―
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Construction on the Central Corridor is expected to begin in 2010, with a planned opening of 2014. (File)
A draft report by a consulting firm says the deck of the Washington Avenue Bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis isn't strong enough to support the weight of light-rail cars.
The engineers who studied the planned 11-mile light-rail line that would connect Minneapolis and St. Paul said the bridge deck needs to be strengthened to support several 107,000-pound light-rail cars passing over it at once.
The draft report was released to the St. Paul Pioneer Press under the Minnesota Data Practices Act.
"It is an issue that is very addressable and resolvable," said Metropolitan Council project director Mark Fuhrmann. However, it could mean an increase in the $932 million projected cost for the Central Corridor project.
The Met Council also is studying the steel girders that are the backbone of the bridge. The girders do not meet current building codes, and URS is generating computer models to see how well they would withstand added weight. The girders might have to be augmented or replaced.
The Washington Avenue Bridge, built in 1965, connects the University of Minnesota's East and West Bank campuses. If the Central Corridor is built, the two decks of the bridge would carry rail, vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
The Met Council has asked URS to estimate the costs of new bridge decks and necessary repairs. The bridge is owned jointly by the University of Minnesota and Hennepin County, and both parties must sign off on any construction.
"It's a unique situation," said Richard Rovang, a Met Council engineer working on the problem. "They're high over the Mississippi River. There's quite a bit of traffic that goes on there. You have this deck over the top, so they may be limited in what kind of equipment they can use."
The Met Council commissioned a $100,000 study last year because officials thought the bridge might present a problem. The draft report was completed in July and should be finalized this fall.
Met Council Chairman Peter Bell already has said the project's anticipated cost is too high. Half of the cost will be paid by the federal government, with the state paying one-third and the rest paid for by Ramsey and Hennepin counties.
"We know today that the $932 million is too rich and that we're going to have to appreciably reduce that by some amount to ultimately access and qualify for federal funds," Fuhrmann said.
Securing final funding for the project depends on the cost-effectiveness index, a federal formula that considers commute times, planned ridership and construction costs. Added costs likely would make it more difficult to meet that formula.
Preliminary engineering is expected to take at least until 2008 and will finalize the light-rail route and stops.
Construction on the Central Corridor is expected to begin in 2010, with a planned opening of 2014.
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The original I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River opened in November 1967 and was 1,907 feet in length. The replacement bridge opened in September 2008 and measures 1,216 feet in length.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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