I-35W Bridge: Open, if you notice

[barondave]

I-35W Bridge, days after the collapse
On North side looking roughly SE
August 11, 2007CE


New I-35W Bridge, open to traffic for just a few hours
From almost the same spot as above
September 18, 2008CE
Well, it's open. It's large. Heck, it's huge. Five lanes in each direction, with shoulders (up from 4, w/o). Could be striped for seven lanes, or the two inner lanes could be used for Light Rail.

I didn't know when I was going over the river. It's so large that you can't see on either side without craning. In the second picture, note the curvy white concrete stele near the middle. That's to designate that you're about 1 second from going over water. There's another on the other side. It will be lit, blue, at night. That's how you know you're over the river.

Boring, but built to last a hundred years.

Comments

[galacticvoyeur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I drove over it this morning, both ways. Just like I used to do. Has more lanes. Didn't fall down. Doesn't have any gusset plates.

Sure made it easier to replace by letting the old one fall down first. Otherwise they'd either have had to close it for a couple years of construction or build the new one off to one side, requiring massive changes to the approaches.

Say, isn't the Forth Bridge, over the Firth of Forth, still in use? Built around 1890...

[pgdudda.livejournal.com]

Also note: Early-21st-Century public works projects will be forever easily recognized by the use of sandstone-colored concrete "blocks".

This is sometimes done to nice effect, like near Minnehaha Park underpass, but usually ranges from merely boring do downright ugly.

Could be worse. Could be Frank Lloyd Wright, who was notorious for building things in a manner wildly inappropriate for the climate of their sites. Result: leaky roofs, collapsing walls, etc.

I suppose I will be a lemming and drive over it at some point this weekend. I am very glad that this project is done, and hopefully its completion will ease some of the congestion clogging the 3rd Ave and 10th/19th St bridges.

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Already drove over it, just to drive over it! ;)

[aedifica]

Were you going north or south when you drove over it? I drove south on it tonight and I could easily see the river to my right--very pretty! Of course, at that time of night there was next to no traffic in my way, which may have helped.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Eventually, both. On the way back (south) I was looking more for the stele than the river, but it still felt more like a wider part of the highway than a bridge.