City Officials Say St. Paul Bridge Needs To Be Rebuilt

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Drivers in St. Paul will notice reduced lanes on a busy downtown bridge soon. City officials said the bridge at Third Street and Kellogg Avenue needs to be rebuilt.

It spans nearly a half mile and it's still young at about 30 years old. Still, city officials said some of its construction no longer complies with state and federal standards. The bridge has some cracks and the city assures it is still safe, but needs changes.

It'll be closed beginning Friday for some short-term changes. Next Monday, the two lanes in each direction will be reduced to two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound. They are concerned about having traffic on the portion of this bridge that overhangs the piers.

According to preliminary estimates, it will cost about $8 million to fix the bridge. So the city is looking into replacing it altogether.

"The mayor and the council president have said as we've looked at this bridge it's not very friendly for pedestrians, bikes, bus rapid transit with the gateway so is it wiser to look at doing something like a replacement of the bridge instead of putting $8 million into something that just gets us what we have today," said St. Paul City Engineer John Maczko.

City officials said they are looking at asking for state and federal money to make that happen. It's a critically important arterial street, and there is not a sufficient long-term alternative route so they want to move quickly, officials said.

Engineers say bridges typically are supposed to last at least 50 years. A 2013 report by the group Transportation for America found that in 10 years, one in four bridges across the nation will be more than 65 years old, when it's more likely to be structurally deficient.