Accessibility menu
State Representative Denny McNamara
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3135
For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317
NEWS RELEASE
REP. McNAMARA SAYS CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN ON NEW HASTINGS BRIDGE IN 2010
ST. PAUL - State Representative Denny McNamara (R-Hastings) said he is pleased to announce that construction to replace the current Highway 61 bridge over the Mississippi River in Hastings is scheduled to begin in 2010.
McNamara said he was happy to have helped the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) alter its timeline for the Hastings bridge replacement project, which had previously been scheduled for replacement in 2016 at the earliest.
“I’ve had many meetings with MnDOT over the past several months, and I’m glad the department has finally come to the realization that our bridge needs to be replaced sooner rather than later,” McNamara said.
McNamara said MnDOT will likely use a design-build proposal to replace the bridge. Bids will be accepted in January 2010, with construction likely to begin in June 2010.
McNamara said the funding comes through bonding provisions included in the new transportation funding law, a provision McNamara championed earlier this session.
“I am really pleased that the idea I proposed in my area newspapers back in January - using bonding dollars to replace fracture-critical bridges - is actually the method being used to replace the Hastings Bridge,” McNamara noted.
MnDOT has prioritized the order of which fracture-critical bridges will be replaced, beginning with a bridge in St. Cloud this year, followed by the Hastings bridge in 2010.
McNamara said construction of a new Hastings bridge could take two years if the current bridge is closed completely, three years if it remains open. McNamara has serious reservations about completely closing this bridge, particularly because southern Washington County is served by the City of Hastings Fire & Ambulance service. Also, School District 200 has many students in southern Washington County who cross the bridge every day.
“There is absolutely no way the Hastings bridge should be closed for two years,” McNamara said. “This summer we’re going to shut it down to one lane for four months for repairs and that’s going to cause tremendous problems; closing it completely for two years would be catastrophic. I doubt I’d find one person who lives or works on either side of the river who thinks a two-year shutdown would be a good idea, and I’ve already made this fact crystal clear to the folks at MnDOT.”
News Items
- NEWS AND VIEWS WITH REP. DENNY McNAMARA - (Posted: 2012-05-09 00:00:00)
- NEWS AND VIEWS WITH REP. DENNY McNAMARA - (Posted: 2012-05-02 00:00:00)
- NEWS AND VIEWS WITH REP. DENNY McNAMARA - (Posted: 2012-03-23 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.