As an avid bicyclist, Kris Siejko couldn't wait until the snow melted so he could use the new pedestrian/bike bridge that spans County Road 81 near Fernbrook Lane in Maple Grove.
That was, until he tried to cross it.
"I think it was early in spring, when the weather kind of started turning good," Siejko recalled. "I went out there, went on this new bridge, and I noticed when I was riding, it felt like a swam of bees flew in my shorts."
When the same sensation occured on a second trip, Siejko called the Three Rivers Park District. Turns out, he was one of at least three riders who had been shocked while riding across the new bridge.
"The director of parks, one of the directors met me, said 'Where did you experience this shock?,'and I told him, and he experienced it himself on that same bike."
The Park district contacted both MnDot, who built the bridge, and Xcel energy, who has main powerlines running close to the bridge alongside County Road 81. The decision was made to close the bridge until a source of the shocks was discovered.
"We've been looking into the way the bridge was built, into the grounding," explained MnDot spokesman Kent Barnard, "and we're developing a plan along with Xcel and Three Rivers Park District to deal with the problem, and get the bridge back open."
While the investigation is ongoing, an Xcel Energy spokesman says the shock likely involves an electrical field generated by the powerlines, which are extremely close to the bridge. As a large object with plenty of metal, the bridge is likely developing a charge from that electrical field, which shocks bicylists with a low voltage jolt.
Xcel believes that improving the grounding on the new bridge will eliminate the shock being passed on to riders who cross it... good news, for Kris Siejko. "Yeah," he laughed, "it's not very pleasant."
(Copyright 2008 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
