Minnesota Department of Transportation home page
Home | About Mn/DOT | Doing Business | Getting Around |
511 Traveler Information
Mn/DOT A to Z | Contact | Simple Search | Advanced Search | Go search

News Release
June 10, 2008

Workzone at night
Eastbound lanes of Blatnik Bridge to close for repairs beginning June 12

DULUTH, Minn.and SUPERIOR, Wis -- Both eastbound lanes (to Superior) of the John A. Blatnik Memorial Bridge (Interstate 535/U.S. 53) will be closed beginning at 9 a.m., Thursday, June 12, so crews can complete gusset plate strengthening work on the structure.

The closure is anticipated to last about 2 weeks, depending on weather.

One westbound traffic lane (to Duluth) will remain open during this time.

Detour signs will be posted in Duluth directing motorists traveling from Minnesota to Wisconsin to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge (U.S. Highway 2).

The contractor plans to work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, during good weather to minimize the duration of the closure.

Once the work is done on the eastbound side of the bridge, the work and traffic closure will move to the westbound side. This work will also require approximately 2 weeks of good weather.

The public will be notified in advance of the detour change.

On May 6, 2008, 2 lanes of the bridge were closed to lessen the load on the 7,980-foot long structure after engineering calculations and field inspections determined that gusset plates at several locations did not meet the bridge’s load requirement.

The general contractor for this project is Ames Construction Company of Burnsville, Minn., and its subcontractor, Danny’s Construction Company, of Shakopee, Minn.

The project is valued at approximately $1.1 million.

Repair costs will be split evenly between the Minnesota and Wisconsin departments of transportation.

For additional information, visit the project Web site at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/projects/535-blatnik

###

Pay Attention or Pay the Price

 

Go to Top

Minnesota Department of Transportation
District 1-Duluth
1123 Mesaba Ave
Duluth, MN 55811
218-725-2700
Search Statewide News
blank

© 2000-2010 Minnesota Department of Transportation
395 John Ireland Boulevard St. Paul, MN 55155-1899
Phone: 800/657-3774 800/627-3529 (TTY, Voice, ASCII)
This site best viewed with 1024X768 or greater and
with Mozilla Firefox 2, Safari 3 or Internet Explorer 6 or greater.

A to Z | Getting Around | About Mn/DOT | ADA and Accessibility | Disclaimer and Legal | Doing Business | Contact Mn/DOT | News Room | 511 Traveler Service | Careers/Jobs | Northstar | Governor's Site |