High price for new St. Croix bridge blamed on muck
Wisconsin NewsThere's a lot more muck in the St. Croix River near Hudson than in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. That’s why the new St. Croix bridge will cost three times as much as the I-35W bridge, which replaced the one that collapsed near downtown Minneapolis in 2007.
There's a lot more muck in the St. Croix River near Hudson than in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. That’s why the new St. Croix bridge will cost three times as much as the I-35W bridge, which replaced the one that collapsed near downtown Minneapolis in 2007.
Taxpayers in Wisconsin and Minnesota are sharing the price tag for the St. Croix bridge, which could run as much as $676 million. Project manager Jon Chiglo told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the deep muck under the St. Croix will account for 40-percent of the cost of the new four-lane bridge.
Chiglo said the bridge will be nearly a mile long, and it will need six sets of piers in the water.
Environmentalists held up the project for decades, but Congress and President Obama gave it final approval a few weeks ago. Test borings will be installed next month, and the bridge is expected to open in 2016.
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