10th Avenue SE Bridge Rehab and Water Main project will be under construction for next two years
Posted on 5 November, 2019The 10th Avenue Bridge (Bridge 2796) is a critical transportation element of the Minneapolis riverfront area. Currently, it carries approximately 10,000 vehicles and hundreds of pedestrians over the Mississippi River each day.
The project will affect park land and cause road and trail closures and detours on West River Parkway. Please enter your email address into the box at the top of the page to subscribe to West River Parkway closures.
The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion “A” (Community Development – Transportation) and Criterion “C” (Engineering Design). Built in 1929, it has admirably carried traffic over the Mississippi River for nearly 90 years. However, leaking expansion joints and leaking drainage elements have led to deterioration of concrete components. This deterioration is a mixture of freeze thaw damage and corrosion based damage.
The City of Minneapolis, along with the SEH consultant team, are working together to design a rehabilitation project for the bridge that meets several goals, including:
Coordinating with multiple stakeholders and agencies
Staying within the project budget
Construction that results in an attractive bridge with durable details
Does not compromise the historic integrity of the bridge
The design work for the rehabilitation project will be completed by the spring of 2019. Construction will begin in the fall of 2019, with the majority of the construction work completed by late fall 2020. The final completion date for construction is July 2021. There will be road closures and detours during the 2020 construction season.
In conjunction with the bridge rehabilitation work, the City also plans to replace a large-diameter water main which is suspended from the bridge structure. Installed in 1949, the water main has suffered from many of the same deteriorating conditions as the bridge. The main will be removed from beneath the bridge, and a replacement will be installed underneath the Mississippi River by digging two large, deep shafts on either side of the river and using a specialized tunneling machine to install the new water main beneath the river. The water main installation is expected to begin at the end of late spring 2019, with the new main being placed into service in March, 2020.