After a record setting 14 months of design-build, the new Mississippi river bridge on I-35W was opened yesterday. I had the pleasure of driving the new span a few minutes before 9am yesterday.
The good:
The open guard rails are brilliant as they allow for unfettered views of the river up and down stream. 
the columns and substructure are elegant for the work of civil engineers - it ain't Calatrava, but much nicer then the typical MNDOT standard design. 
and it is nice to see state-of-the-art LED street lights.
The bad:
It doesn't feel like you're on a bridge until you look to the side and see the river. All the flaws of the 1960's designed Minnesota highway system fail to celebrate the crossing between the east and the west. The new bridge is only demarcated by the shift in lights and the columns discussed below.
The ugly:
AP
What are these three squiggly columns supposed to be? they are at both ends of the bridge and are hideous. They evoke the twisted remains of the collapsed span in the most sculptural vacuous banality.
MNDOT Bridge Homepage
StarTrib photo gallery
3 Comments
yes?! where'd it go?
Im all for the open views but a 3' guard rail seems like minimal protection against falling off the bridge - how do they stop cars from rolling over into the river?
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