The purpose of the bridge is to carry the Midtown Greenway, a crosstown grade-separated bicycle expressway, across the very busy Hiawatha Ave and light rail lines without a need for the bicycle riders to cross at street level (something that is hard to do today given the large number of streets that converge there).
Prior to the bridge being completed, I went to check out the construction site on several occasions. In mid-December, 2006, bridge piers are built and ready on the east side of the span. On the west side, the pilings are being driven that will support the main tower. The tower itself will look very much like the Reiman Bridge in Milwaukee. It will rise at an angle towards the crossing, then tip back away from the crossing, with the change in angle happening where the roadway meets the tower.
In early 2007, the ground-level anchors for the cables were complete. Work was starting on the pier that would connect to the embankment that leads up to the west side of the bridge. As of June 2007, all of the piers are complete, and falsework is in place for the deck of the bridge to be poured in place.
With the addition of this bridge, and another bridge being built at Chicago Ave, the Midtown Greenway will run from west of Lake Calhoun to the Mississippi River. The west end connects to a trail known as the LRT trail (an old rail line that is being held in reserve for future light rail). The east end of the trail ends at the Milwaukee Road Short Line Bridge over the Mississippi River. It is hoped that rail traffic can be eliminated from that bridge, and the Midtown Greeway be extended east of the river to connect with trails that go all the way to the Wisconsin state line.
Marty Sabo was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1960 at the age of 22. He moved onto the US House of Representatives in 1978. He retired at the end of his term which expired January 3, 2007. Sabo has been instrumental in supporting highway and transportation projects both in Minnesota and the nation as a whole.
Note—The lower two image renderings were produced by Hennepin County.
