On August 1st, 2007, I was having
dinner in a restaurant next to the Highway 61 Bridge in Hastings, Minnesota
with a retired businessman, his girlfriend, and a local lawyer and his
wife. Glancing up at the TV over the
bar, we were witnesses to the news of the 35W Bridge collapse into the
Mississippi River.
As we left the restaurant we looked up at the
underside of the Highway 61 Bridge since we had parked on the land side parking
lot beneath it. We noted the general
condition of the structure and wondered if it too was a risky passage, 26 miles
further downstream over the same body of water on which the 35W tragedy had
occurred.
Within months the Minnesota DOT had come to
the conclusion that the bridge was indeed risky. They began making
immediate temporary repairs while planning for a new span. The existing Hastings Bridge had been erected
in 1951. Its planned replacement, scheduled for 2019, was accelerated to commence
in 2010, based on the condition of the
structure and the fact it is one of the busiest bridges in the state,
handling enormous traffic as a major north/ south artery from the Twin Cities.
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| BRIDGE AT HASTINGS IN 2007 |
“BRIDGING” FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND CONTRACTING INTERESTS
Planners at the Minnesota DOT are to be
applauded for the manner in which this project has proceeded and the people of
the community, as well as their civic, government and industry leaders should
be congratulated for the businesslike, cooperative and efficient manner in
which this project has been conducted.
Local community meetings solicited input from
the citizens on the design. The options were carefully weighed in terms of
environmental and aesthetic impact.
Hastings, Minnesota is an old river town with a preservationist ethic
that spans generations. That fact was not ignored. The Highway 61 corridor has remained open,
eliminating a major detour for commuters.
The state ran a competitive bidding
process. The winning contractor joint
venture was a team of reputable companies who planned to use state of the art
pre-stressed concrete as a design to construct the longest such span on the
North American Continent, costing millions below the state estimate for the
job.
Heavy girders have been manufactured locally
in Minnesota and transported from north of Minneapolis to the Hastings site
with computer steered special transports involving minimal disruption. The large, arch frame for the bridge was
recently floated downstream from a staging area near Lock and Dam 2 on the
Mississippi after having been assembled by skilled union iron workers.
It was lifted in place on 24 September by the
largest heavy lifting equipment company in the world, who traveled from Europe to support the project.
The Coast Guard, Corps of Engineers, State
DOT, Hastings Community and all related support organizations have worked in a
cooperative manner to achieve a demanding schedule. The bridge work will be completed and the new
span will open in the near future.
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| OUR NEW HORIZON |
POLITICIANS
I have yet to hear a politician or agency
official attempt to take credit for this project or pursue some form of
attention-seeking advantage as a result of it.
In an election year, considering the nature of politics these days, that
is a highly unusual occurrence.
I am sure there will be events commemorating
the project success, as there should be; but it is my hope those events will
celebrate the true nature of the achievement.
SUMMARY
It was a pleasure observing the Highway
61 bridge replacement over the Mississippi at Hastings. Its planning, execution
and achievement have been exemplary to an old project manager who has witnessed
difficulties with entrenched bureaucracies in industry and government for years.
This has been a shared, community, cooperative
venture, worthy of note when considering models for the future of our country
and the path it must take to overcome many challenges – political, economic and
technological.
Certainly similar projects can be undertaken involving other infrastructure programs such as education using the same form of
cooperative, shared, professional action.
Let’s build bridges like this one in
many other fields of endeavor!
