ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- After 17 months of detours, inconvenience, and economic impact, vehicles are about ready to start crossing the Mississippi on St. Cloud's Highway 23/Division Street again.
The city's new 'Granite City Crossing' was dedicated Monday morning, a preview of sorts to Thursday's grand opening. It replaces the 50 year old Desota Bridge, which was demolished in March of 2008 due to bent gusset plates. The defects in the bridge were discovered during statewide bridge inspections in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse.
"I think St Cloud is a community that 'always' comes together during challenges, and certainly a major bridge being down, a major artery, the most used bridge in the city being down for 17 months, that is a challenge," said St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis.
Residents and commuters piled up miles and hours in the car, navigating detours and traffic backups for a year and a half. Kathy Bialke had to take the long way around while traveling from her home on the east side of the Mississippi to her job on the west.
"I thought they were never going to finish, I thought 'oh my god, this is gonna take a couple years more', but it's all together and it's beautiful," Bialke gushed. "When does it open, Thursday...? It's gonna be 'sooo' busy here, people are going to be walkin', riding their bikes, driving... all nuts. So i'm staying away," she laughed.
The Granite City Crossing was originally budgeted in the neighborhood of $36 million, but Mayor Kleis says it came in under budget, at less than $20 million. The contractor will be paid a bonus, for getting construction done early.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
