Winona Bridge opens to traffic
On Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016 the community held a celebratory dedication event and the Winona Bridge No. 85851 opened to traffic. The intersection of 4th Street and Winona Street is now open and all traffic can cross the new bridge, while Bridge No. 5900 is closed for rehabilitation.
Update
The city of Winona, in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, will mark the re-opening of the historic Highway 43 Winona Bridge on July 1.
MnDOT has been working with the city of Winona to plan a noon ceremony with speeches and a ribbon cutting to mark the return of traffic on the bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River. The bridge has been closed since 2016 for rehabilitation work on the structure. Traffic has been using the new bridge upriver from Winona during this phase of the project.
The event will be at the foot of the historic bridge. The public is invited.
“This is a historic day for our city as the Winona Bridge project comes to a conclusion,” said Winona Mayor Mark Peterson. “We have added a new bridge in 2016 and now the historic bridge has been rehabilitated to ensure we can rely on it into the future and maintain one of our city’s signature symbols.”
Meanwhile, Ames Construction, the prime contractor, is working to keep the project on track to open to traffic later in the day on July 1. After traffic is opened, workers will be doing site work around the bridge this summer to wrap up the project.
Bike trail closures
The bicycle trail on the levee under the Winona bridge is closed during construction until late 2019. Bicyclists should detour from Johnson Street to Second Street to Riverview Drive. View/print bike detour map (PDF). The section of the bike trail from Riverview Drive to the bridge, which will be used as construction access, will be rebuilt as part of the project and re-opened following construction. View/print project overview map (PDF).