Construction Update: St. Croix River Crossing 'What a Vista!'

STILLWATER -- Crews working on the St. Croix River Crossing bridge project lifted the final bridge deck segment into place at Pier 11 earlier this month, and also completed installing the stay cables at Pier 10 on Friday, Sept. 23. Stay cable installation is now complete at all five river piers.

A total of eight stay cables are anchored within each pier tower, each connecting to a stay segment on the bridge deck. Stay cables help support the load, or weight, on the bridge and are necessary to support 600-foot spans between the river piers.

Other St. Croix Crossing bridge construction highlights include:

• The final barge loaded with river bridge segments left the Grey Cloud Island casting yard and arrived on the project site Tuesday, Sept. 27
• Crews anticipate placing the final river bridge segments the week of Oct. 3
• Crews continue to work on the overlooks at Piers 8 and 10. Overlook construction will begin at Pier 12 in mid-October.

On Friday, October 14th, area residents John Soderberg, Roger Larson, William Rubin, and Nita Dusek toured the future driving deck of the St. Croix Crossing under construction between St. Croix (WI) and Washington (MN) counties.

The group started in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and walked up to the deck past the project’s last on-land pier, #7. They walked as far as pier #8, the first pier in the river on the Minnesota side. A scenic overlook is under construction on the upstream side of the bridge at pier 8, one of three included in the project.

The project also includes a 12-foot wide pedestrian and bicycling path on the upstream side that is separated from vehicular traffic. This is part of the 7-mile looped trail that runs between the Lift Bridge in Stillwater to the new bridge, and includes pathways in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“This is a beautiful place,” said John Soderberg, as he viewed the scenery from the bridge deck. “If you want to see the beauty of the St. Croix Valley, this is the place. What a vista.”

Construction Highlights

Crews completed installing the stay cables at Pier 10 on Friday, Sept. 23. Stay cable installation is now complete at all five river piers.

A total of eight stay cables are anchored within each pier tower, each connecting to a stay segment on the bridge deck. Stay cables help support the load, or weight, on the bridge and are necessary to support 600-foot spans between the river piers.

Other St. Croix Crossing bridge construction highlights include:

• The final barge loaded with river bridge segments left the Grey Cloud Island casting yard and arrived on the project site Tuesday, Sept. 27
• Crews anticipate placing the final river bridge segments the week of Oct. 3
• Crews continue to work on the overlooks at Piers 8 and 10. Overlook construction will begin at Pier 12 in mid-October.

Stay connected, ask questions or provide comments to the St. Croix Crossing project team:

• Visit the project web site
• Sign-up for weekly email updates
• Call the hotline at 1-855-GO-CROIX (1-855-462-7649)
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter @stcroixcrossing
• Stop by the office at 1862 Greeley St. S. in Stillwater. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

image: nita dusek and minnesota department of transportation