If you know someone who wants the “serious info” it is here. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/   I spent an hour on it. They have all the source material there.

They released the design info on the new !35W bridge today. It’s will be a boxed concrete pre stressed concrete shallow arch. Basically two bridges, each five lanes two piers and crossing box beams for each. I think one might be “drivable” by the time of the Republican convention but the scheduled completion date is Christmas eve 2008. There is half a million dollar a day incentive to complete it early.

Light rail potential was added at around 25% of the cost. Basically they widened the center some. Not hard since rail doesn’t need a “breakdown lane” on the side. It includes the light rail space, not the approaches. Light rail, being rail only needs a narrow space. The plan doesn’t include light rail and the approaches would be “tricky” but the bridge could handle it.

The bridge also contains provisions for a “pedestrian/bicycle” suspension bridge hung from the underside. It is not included but it seems it could be built rather cheaply. Minneapolis planning likes that kind of thing. There are observation decks under both ends of the bridge. They have a “green area” under the rest of the bridge but I suspect this will become parking. Actually it is quite “scenic”. You look west and there is a waterfall river gorge and you look East ant there is a surprisingly pristine river gorge. It seems a nice place for a picnic and can have memorials for the collapse victims. Before the collapse it was just industrial. It’s really a magnificent view with the waterfall and the mostly pristine river gorge.

As for the structural design it uses precast concrete box girders in transportable sections. They have precast a lot of precast tubes in there . The thing about the right alloy precast steel cable wire is that it has a lot of “elasticity” before metal fatigue is significantly increased . Basically, if this bridge, as I understand it is kept dry, (fairly easy) it can last almost forever. If it fails in the middle it would sag but all of the pre-stressed concrete steel cables would hold it up. They would eventually be stressed and fail but it would be a slow process.

Another feature is that the “arch” can be built without falsework. For an rough idea how the bridge will look check out the Wabasha bridge in Downtown St. Paul, built by the same designers. I drove under the Wabasha bridge along the River Road and it looked very impressive and clean from below. Here is a link to an inderside view of the Wabasha Bridge.

http://www.figgbridge.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IRMAProjectSite.woa/wa/view?site=Figg%20Engineering%20Group&section=Bridge%20Gallery&page=Wabasha

This is a repost of an older posting.  I was over in Dinkeyton and reviewed the “lay of the land”.  The “Chateau” at 425 13th Av. S. E. was half a block North of 4th Street South East, which is a one way westbound.    On the 18th floor I had to be close to 200 feet above the stree level.  I could easily observe the Westbound vehicles, espepcailly trucks and especially those stopped at the lights at 14Th Av. SE and 15th Av. S.E.    The Eastbound University Avenue SE is a block and a half away and the University SE/ 14th Av. SE stoplight was view was blocked by buildings ans was the 15th.

Below is my repost:

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s211922.shtml?cat=1

Breakdown of bridge replacement costs

I drove accross the 10th Avenue bridge today, maybe 100 yards downstream from the I35 site.  It looked like they had all of debris from the bridge removed.  They were going to take it by barge to a site somewhere downriver.  The bridge collapsed August 01 so this is basically two months.  Driving to work at night two or three times a week I’ve noticed that the huge nightlights weren’t glowing above the I35W site for maybe the last three weeks.  This means that for the last two or three weeks they were just doning daylight debris removal work.

It’s faster than I thought.  I think it was two weeks ago I crossed the 10th Avenue bridge and most of the bridge debris was still there.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_6965830?nclick_check=1

The article said:  “Flatiron Constructors’ proposal calls for a concrete bridge.”

“Looking at the website of Flatirons partner I noticed that the partner had built the St. Paul Wabasha Bridge and they noted that construction was done in harse winter conditions.  Yesterday I was driving down Warner road and drove under the Wabasha Street bridge.  It’s a very stylish bridge and concrete.

Just from cashaul observation, concrete, especially the concrete arch seems to hold up very well.  The I35W localtion is an extremely damp area with spray from St. Anthony Falls up from the privailing winds.  Perhaps Flatiron added a number of factors to take the moisture into accound a lower future inspecetion and maintainance costs. 

I’ll also post this at my http://riverbridgecollapse.com/

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/07/09/19-35wresults.html

Mn/DOT announces apparent bid winner for I-35W Bridge project

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Department of Transportation today selected Flatiron Constructors, Inc./Manson Construction, a joint venture, as the apparent bid winner to build the Interstate 35W replacement bridge as a design-build project. Flatiron, headquartered in Longmont, Colo., and Manson, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, were selected over three other companies, including Ames/Lunda, and C.S McCrossan and Walsh Construction/American Bridge. The “best value” selection process used a computation that included an evaluation score for project proposals, the price to build, the number of days to construct, and a road user cost. Flatiron had the highest technical score of 91.47. Walsh American was second with 67.88, McCrossan was third with 65.91 and Ames/Lunda was fourth with 55.98.   Flatiron’s bid was to build the bridge in 437 days for a cost of $233,763,000.  Walsh/American bid $219,000,000 with a build time of 437 days. McCrossan bid $176,938,000 with a build time of 367 days. Ames/Lunda bid $178,489,000 and would build the bridge in 392 days. More details on the winning proposal as well as the others will be available when Mn/DOT has completed the procurement process with a signed contract, which should occur within the next 30 days

In the early 1980′s I lived on the top (18th) floor of the Chateau Housing Coop.  This is that tall poured concrete building in the Dinkeytown neighborhood of Minneapolis.  My apartment was on the east side and offered a spectacular view of Dinkeytown and the area towards St. Paul.  What I would often see is semi-truck trailers, the open top types that were loaded to the top with grain and no tarp over them.  This indicated short run driving.  I’m not sure if the East Bank “A mill was still running then with the grain elevators on the West/North side of the river (the current Mill City Museum site basically between the Star-Tribune building and the river).  This mill and elevator was then very active.

I recall the open grain trucks “filled to the gills” and they appeared to going westbound through Dinkeytown of 4th Street.  My memory is “foggy” on this but I moved into the “Chateau” when it was new in 1973.  Here is the current tax information for my unit I lived in then.  http://www2.co.hennepin.mn.us/pins/pidresult.jsp?pid=2402924310240   I bought my current http://searshouse.com   (3512 34th A. S.) in mid 1986 and lived by Abbot Northwestern Hospital for may two years.  This would have me moving out of the Chateau around 1982 or 1983. 

Again, this is from strained memory but don’t recall the heavy grain trucks when I first moved into the Chateau.  Here is my theory.  I stress it is only a theory.  When the Star Tribune built it’s new printing plant the rail service to the “West Bank” and the now “Mill City Museum” grain elevator and mill were seriously disrupted.  After the 35W bridge collapse I read that the now bicycle/pedestrian “bridge #9″ downstream was closed to rail around 1980.  The area by the new Gopher Football stadium still has rail and a very active grain elevator/milling industry.  Here is the theory, and I stress that it is only a theory.  “Around 1980, when bridge #9 closed  to rail the grain for the mill then operation at what is now the “Mill City Museum” was trucked from the grain elevators North of Prospect Park by truck.  The logical route would have been over the I35W bridge.  I recall the trucks “loaded to the gills” with grain, Westbound with the loads uncovered.  I recall this starting long after I moved into the Chateau and when it happened the trucks were frequent.

If I am correct (This is dredged up 20+ year old memory but I am a Twin Cities native and lived in Minneapolis since 1970) from around 1980 until perhaps sometime in the 1990′s when the now “Mill City Museum” mill and elevator closed (I recall it used to make oat flour for Cheerios.) there could have been a massive number of “heavy” grain trucks that potentially went over the I35 bridge from around 1980 to whenever the now museum mill and grain elevators were closed down.

It would take a lot of “digging” to try to substantiate this.  I do not want to make any accusations but I recall that when the apparently “heavy” grain trucks appeared it was suddenly and there were a lot of them. 

At most this would potentially “stress” the I35W bridge.  I’m focusing on the bridge bearings/hinges as a contributor to the collapse.  As I recall they actually closed I35W to replace sticking bearings/hinges in the early to mid 1990′s.  The sticky hinges/bearing along with overweight loads might cause stress on the bridge superstructure.  Just a theory.

I am cross posting this email at my http://riverbridgecollapse.com so fell free to forward and share.  (try not to give out my email address  Again this is 20+ year old memory and I don’t have the resources to really investigate it.

My first vantage point of the 35W bridge was from the Stone Arch bridge upstream.  This was from maybe 25 feet lower than the the 35W bridge deck original height.  Today I saw it, by car, from the 10th Avenue bridge.  That’s maybe 100 feet downstream and fifty feet above the original 355 bridge deck.  I didn’t really learn anything new but this “high view” but it sure shows the scale when you see eight lanes buckled and at angles. 

It took more than 20 minutes to drive across the bridge Northbound and traffic wasn’t otherwise heavy.  One the Northbound end they have traffic chocked down to one lane.  One block up there is a left turn where you go a block to get to the northbound freeway.  Traffic would go a lot faster if they put a right turn lane at the first light.  Instead they have the bicycle lane.  There is a gas station on that corner.  It’s all concrete so they have plenty of room for the bike lanes, sidewalks and a right turn lane.  Minneapolis only grudgingly open the 10th Avenue bridge last week.  I sense that the Minneapolis planners have a built in biases against the automobiles.  All the rebuild/beautification projects seem to cut on-street parking by around 50%.

I watched the light rail after the Vikings game and it took around two hours before the crowds on the cars were thinning out.  With the very high frequency of “duel cars” it looks like they put all 30 cars into it.  Our light rail cars have controls on each end but usually run with two cars linked together.  The stations are built for three or the 94 foot articulated cars hooked together.  Rated capacity is around 200 per car with a “tight stand” but they regularly hold 250 with tight squeeze.  

I did my “post game research” from the smoking patio of the Cardinal Bar which is adjacent to my neighborhood LRT station.  _____ met me there and was tolerant on my noting times and passenger loads of the LRT cars.  She marveled “Do you get paid for doing this?  I replied, not yet!  I watched the bars on my cheap pagepluscelluar prepaid cellular phone and the “bars” stayed strong during the entire post game “show”.  Like I said, cell phones are getting really cheap.  I use Page-Plus-Cellular , aka “the terrorist phone”.  You buy a refurbished phone for around $25 and it comes for (I think) 100 minutes good for ninety days.   They you recharge.  You can recharge 70 minutes for another 90 days with a remaining time rollover if you recharge before the 90 days run out.  For light use you have a cell phone for under $4 per month.  For that price it is handy in a lot of ways if you manage it correctly.  If you are a heavy cell phone user a standard contract is better but for the standard “where should we meet”  or “I’m going to be late because of this traffic”  it works great.

As for the “terrorist phone” thing I don’t mind a formal registration of these prepaid phones.  I thing that they should be traceable back to the purchaser.  The only problem I have with a credit card is that it might try automatic billing. 

I picked up an anomaly on the latest Osam Bin Laden video message that I don’t think anyone else notices in regard to Osama’s rant on the sub prime mortgage mess.  If he had truly understood fundamentalist Islamic law he would have condemned our entire interest system.  The Koran bans “usury” interest.  Some fundamentalist clerics have interpreted this to mean a ban on paying interest.  Apparently Osama didn’t pick this up.

Locally our Minneapolis Foundation did.  I found this on their web site.

More details!  The road construction season is winding down here so there are a lot of projects.  Light rail is a good strategy to get to and from the Metrodome/Vikings games.  I will contact metro transit advising that if someone buys a $3 6 hour pass the day of the game and had a Metrodome/Vikings ticket they be given “grace for the rest of the LRT day schedule.  until the last train.  This important since a non-payment ticket fine is $180.  If people buy a six hour ticket for the LRT and arrive early and leave late after the game theyshould not risk a $180 ticket.  The light rail deploys all cars for sports events and currently handles one-third of metrodome event traffic

Here is the source article.

 http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1406761.html
Weekend traffic: What a mess
This weekend Vikings fans and others won’t be able to use I-35W in south Minneapolis, parts of Hwy. 62 and streets near the Dome.
By Jim Foti, Star Tribune
Last update: September 06, 2007 – 8:49 PM
First, let’s focus on the positive: Three of the five freeway routes leading to downtown Minneapolis won’t be shut down this weekend.
But getting to the Vikings game will be just about as challenging as it has ever been when the team’s regular season begins Sunday. Not only is the Interstate 35W bridge out, but I-35W will be closed between downtown and Crosstown Hwy. 62 starting Friday night, and streets adjacent to the Metrodome will be blocked off for much of the day Sunday.
Also, the westbound lanes of the Crosstown from Cedar Avenue (Hwy. 77) to Lyndale Avenue will be shut down for the weekend.
The south Minneapolis section of 35W will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday so the 50th Street bridge over the freeway can be removed as part of the Crosstown Commons reconstruction.
New beams will be placed for the nearby Diamond Lake Road bridge, which has been out for months, and Minnehaha Parkway, which passes under 35W, will be closed to cars, bikes and pedestrians from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
So in addition to the north-south troubles, “east-west flow is going to be much more challenging than the last time, and it wasn’t all that pretty last time,” said Don Sobania, an engineer for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, referring to the June closure of the same stretch of 35W.
Vikings fans who do claw their way downtown will find parts of several streets adjacent to the Metrodome blocked off from two hours before the noon kickoff until an hour after the game ends. This has been a standard game-day security measure for several NFL seasons. The closures include stretches of S. 5th and S. 6th Streets, which connect to Interstate 94 on the east side of downtown.
The posted detour around the weekend 35W closure sends drivers along Hwy. 100 and Interstate 394.
Reid Jorgensen, a Vikings season-ticket-holder from Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to avoid the whole mess. Instead of driving in on Hwy. 169 and 394 and parking in a ramp near Target Center, he’ll stay out near the Mall of America and take the Hiawatha line to the game. “I’m guessing the light rail’s going to be a pretty popular choice,” he said.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the traffic flows,” he said. “That’s a lot of traffic being diverted.”
The Vikings have until 2 p.m. today to sell all remaining tickets and avoid a television blackout. A Vikings official said Wednesday that traffic concerns were a factor in sluggish ticket sales.
Bits of good news
There are a few bright spots in the weekend traffic forecast:
• The entrance ramps to 35W northbound at 46th and 35th Streets aren’t expected to be closed, allowing drivers who make it that far to have a quick hop into downtown. (Minor repairs near those ramps could close them, however; MnDOT recommends calling 511 or checking 511mn.org for updates.)
• Eastbound I-94 drivers who emerge from the Lowry Tunnel will still be able to exit onto northbound 35W to access the 3rd Street/U of M exits.
• Metro Transit will have 26 cars operating on the Hiawatha light-rail line for the Vikings game, with 10 articulated buses standing by at the Fort Snelling park and ride to take extra passengers. Metro Transit staffers will be on hand at Fort Snelling, the 28th Avenue park and ride, and the Warehouse District station downtown. A round-trip downtown zone light-rail ticket allows fans who park at the Target Center parking ramps near I-394 to get from the Warehouse District to the Dome and back for $1. • The streets near the Dome won’t be closed for Saturday’s Gopher football game, which begins at 11 a.m.
Timing and safety
To try to keep vehicles moving across south Minneapolis over the weekend, traffic signals south of Franklin Avenue will be on a rush-hour settings, said city spokesman Matt Laible. That means signal cycles will last longer than non-rush hour times, allowing the streets to carry more cars.
And to try to keep things safe in the construction zone, the State Patrol will have additional staff on hand. Despite the clear and present dangers, drivers have been known to ignore or go around barricades, said Sgt. Mark Peterson, a patrol spokesman.
“I’ve stopped people who have driven on fresh cement,” he said. Troopers won’t have to worry about Jorgensen, the faithful fan who is taking light rail. “There’s so few Viking games a year,” he said. “Win, lose or draw, you gotta go support ’em.”
Jim Foti • 612-673-4491
© 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

You wrote:  “Are you satisfied that they are going to be able to design a safe bridge at that breakneck speed?”

That doesn’t bother me.  I considered that question but it doesn’t bother me.  I compared it to the Pentagon being rebuilt in a year.  It took a lot of effort but no one is griping about quality and I’m sure that everyone involved in the Pentagon rebuild is using as their “calling card”.  Good for them. 

I took binoculars with me when I looked at the bridge. The two piers, which are on dry land seem in excellent shape.  I suspect they will be reused though perhaps “beefed up” though I doubt they played any role in the collapse.  The main span is around 450 feet.  This is modest by bridge engineering standards.  I’d go “old school” and put in an extra margin of error/redundancy.”

We may not have the metal fabrication capabilities needed here in Minnesota but we have it in on the Mississippi and it’s tributaries.  Like I said, I can get a 450 foot long girder through a 400 foot river lock. 

As for the components there are powerful inspection tools like “metal X-ray” to inspect and certify the work.  These are extensively used in oil drilling where they have a string of pipe that is several miles long.  The technology is well established and a bridge beam is a “cakewalk”.  These companies are all ISO 2000 certified (I know this stuff!).  I’d play it to supplier as a “calling card” with dire warnings about what would happen if they fail.

In my proposal, if I were making it I would overbuild by 25% to compensate for potential “fast track errors”.  For the state, if the design errors fall in the 25% they are covered and if it is designed correctly, the bridge will have a bonus working life in the future.  I would “guesstimate” that overbuilding it 25% would increase the cost 5%.  You don’t want to necessarily go with the low bidder here.

As for computor  designs and calculations these can be done rather quickly if your motivated.  Here they are.

Due to the credit crunch construction work is down and our construction companies cooperate very well with each other to keep their employees working.    I suspect that who ever wins will get a lot of help from their local competitors.  In winter here you can do perhaps 90% of summer.  The money is a lot better than being laid off.  The “big project” construction workers here adapt.  If a big winter storm is expected they take their weekend early, ride out the storm at home with family and friends and work on the weekends.  I know a number of them and they are a tough and dedicated group.  They are “chomping at the bit” to rebuild I35W.  (I will be contacting the Hearst/Educational cable channels to do a documentary series on the I35W bridge rebuild ala “Deadliest Catch” and Ice Road Truckers”.

Obviously I will be following this very closely.  It should be fun to follow and I will follow it.  The technology is all there to do it “fast-track”.  It’s just a matter of pulling it al together.  I will be following it and reporting.