Highway-52 Lafayette Bridge Work Complete

While the impending winter here in Minnesota means snow and cold weather, it also means the completion of a number of MnDOT construction projects, including the Highway-52 Lafayette Bridge project in St. Paul.

If you've used our familiar Highway-52 to travel to St. Paul at all in the last four years, you've no doubt noticed that work on the Lafayette Bridge has been in progress for awhile, featuring narrow lanes with sharp turns that often seemed a little tough to navigate. But Tuesday, MnDOT leaders along with Governor Dayton, officially opened all lanes of the new structure, signalling the end of the project that began back in 2011.

BringMeTheNews notes that work on the new bridge was commissioned after a study found it to be "Minnesota's 'most deficient' bridge following increased inspections in the wake of the I-35W collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, according to the Star Tribune."

The story also says there are some new features on the bridge. "According to MPR, the new bridges include a pedestrian and bike trail installed between St. Paul’s West Side and Lafayette Park areas, and also 'radically changed' its north end, routing Highway 52 under I-94 to reach E. 7th Street and taking out the curve between 52 and I-94. Both the north and southbound lanes are also equipped with an anti-icing system that will see chemicals applied to the bridge deck before freezing conditions arrive, KSTP reports."

Here's a MnDOT animation that shows what the new bridge looks like...