Stillwater Bridge

[agentsteel53]

Oh, and C.S McCrossan is suing stop work on the contract until it is either rebid or awarded to them.

good.

a private agency can accept whatever bid they want.  but the general public should not be wasting taxpayer money on this kind of horse-defecatery.

[Mdcastle]

Mn/DOT decided to award the design/build contract for the Minnesota approach to the second lowest bidder: Ames / Lunda instead of C.S. McCrossan because the latter didn't employ enough women and minorities. This act of political correctness will cost state $6 million.

So who decided the definition of "enough"?  Another one for the courts....

rte66man

The "goal" was 16.7% of the subcontractors be "Disadvantaged Businesses Enterprises"; those owned at least 51% by women and/or minorities. C.S. McCrossan guaranteed 11% and said they would strive for the 16.7%. One of their allegations in the lawsuit was that the word "goal" doesn't have a specific legal meaning, so they should have been awarded the contract even if they could not guarantee the goal.

The difference amounts to another $3 million going to so called disadvantaged businesses. Why doesn't the state save $3 million by writing that amount in checks to the disadvantaged businesses and hiring McCrossan to build the bridge?

[mgk920]

The. Legislature. Does. Not. Set. Signed. Numbers. Some signed numbers match the legislative numbers, because it's easier that way, but many do not.

Depends on the state.  The original Illinois state route numbers, the State Bond Issue (SBI) Routes, were set by the legislature.  They were numbered in the order the legislature approved the bonds; hence SBI-1 is IL-1.  Many of them are the same routes you see today, including the aforementioned IL-1 being on most of SBI-1.

And in Wisconsin, except for the numbers that are set by the feds (the 'US' highways and the interstates), they are assigned by the bureaucrats at WisDOT.

Mike

[on_wisconsin]

Who cares about mumbo-jumbo strictly legalese, non-end user, "legislative highway numbers" when construction itself has officially begun:

Work officially begins on new St. Croix bridge project
Associated Press
Posted:   04/29/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated:   04/29/2013 05:58:17 PM CDT

Work has begun on the new St. Croix bridge project to connect Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation said Monday that crews have built a construction staging area on the Minnesota banks of the St. Croix River.
Current work includes building dock walls to support equipment access for construction of bridge foundations. Crews also are installing steel sheet panels to provide docking facilities for barges. Workers are scheduled in early May to prepare land for the site adjacent to Minnesota 95 in Oak Park Heights.

The project includes building a new four-lane highway bridge across the river connecting expressways on both sides. Construction of the bridge superstructure is scheduled to start in 2014.

The project will replace the 80-year-old Stillwater Lift Bridge.

http://host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/work-begins-on-new-st-croix-bridge-project/article_d34ead9c-59e9-5b6b-85ac-04d8fe2c811b.html


Webcam link: http://www.earthcam.net/projects/mndot/stcroixcrossingbridge/

[on_wisconsin]

Judge won't stop Stillwater bridge work
By Mary Divine
mdivine@pioneerpress.com
Posted:   05/06/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated:   05/07/2013 07:59:06 AM CDT

A federal judge has denied a request by C.S. McCrossan Construction to halt work on the new St. Croix River bridge.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle on Monday, May 6, also ordered that McCrossan's federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Transportation be put on hold until the Minnesota Court of Appeals rules on its state suit.

McCrossan officials "failed to demonstrate either irreparable harm absent injunctive relief or that (the company) is likely to succeed on the merits," Kyle wrote in his order.

McCrossan, based in Maple Grove, claimed last month that the Minnesota Department of Transportation illegally rejected its bid for part of the $626 million bridge project. The company said MnDOT acted improperly in awarding a $58.1 million bid for approach work on Minnesota 36 and 95 to a joint venture of Ames Construction of Burnsville and Lunda Construction of Black River Falls, Wis. McCrossan's bid of $52.3 million was $6 million less than the Ames-Lunda bid; McCrossan also had the best technical score.

MnDOT in February named McCrossan the apparent low bidder for the work, but the bid was later rejected after the agency determined McCrossan didn't make "good faith efforts" to obtain the participation of disadvantaged businesses. Federal law requires that recipients of federal funding hire certain percentages of woman- and minority-owned businesses.

Ames-Lunda was able to achieve the project's goal of 16.7 percent for disadvantaged business
participation; McCrossan's bid, which had a disadvantaged business participation of 10.6 percent, did not, MnDOT said.

"Perhaps most damning to McCrossan's argument, however, is the fact that both Ames/Lunda and (a third bidder) were able to submit proposals meeting MnDOT's 16.7 percent goal for DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) participation," Kyle wrote. "The court struggles to comprehend how McCrossan's equal-protection rights were violated when all three 'short-listed' contractors were subjected to the same DBE and good-faith efforts required in the regulations. ... All three contractors were operating on a level playing field, and two met the project's goal while McCrossan did not; there is simply no suggestion in the record that MnDOT's action benefited one contractor over another."

McCrossan officials said Monday they were disappointed.

"We are very unhappy with (Judge Kyle's) order," said Charley McCrossan, company CEO. "He failed to consider the most important part, which is that the taxpayers are being dinged for $6 million."

Kevin Gutknecht, MnDOT spokesman, said Monday that the agency does not discuss matters that are in litigation.

Plans call for the work on the Minnesota 36 approach to begin this spring and be completed by fall 2014. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2016.

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_23184264/stillwater-bridge-federal-judge-declines-grant-builders-injunction
Good! 

[Molandfreak]

Judge won't stop Stillwater bridge work
By Mary Divine
mdivine@pioneerpress.com
Posted:   05/06/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated:   05/07/2013 07:59:06 AM CDT

A federal judge has denied a request by C.S. McCrossan Construction to halt work on the new St. Croix River bridge.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle on Monday, May 6, also ordered that McCrossan's federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Transportation be put on hold until the Minnesota Court of Appeals rules on its state suit.

McCrossan officials "failed to demonstrate either irreparable harm absent injunctive relief or that (the company) is likely to succeed on the merits," Kyle wrote in his order.

McCrossan, based in Maple Grove, claimed last month that the Minnesota Department of Transportation illegally rejected its bid for part of the $626 million bridge project. The company said MnDOT acted improperly in awarding a $58.1 million bid for approach work on Minnesota 36 and 95 to a joint venture of Ames Construction of Burnsville and Lunda Construction of Black River Falls, Wis. McCrossan's bid of $52.3 million was $6 million less than the Ames-Lunda bid; McCrossan also had the best technical score.

MnDOT in February named McCrossan the apparent low bidder for the work, but the bid was later rejected after the agency determined McCrossan didn't make "good faith efforts" to obtain the participation of disadvantaged businesses. Federal law requires that recipients of federal funding hire certain percentages of woman- and minority-owned businesses.

Ames-Lunda was able to achieve the project's goal of 16.7 percent for disadvantaged business
participation; McCrossan's bid, which had a disadvantaged business participation of 10.6 percent, did not, MnDOT said.

"Perhaps most damning to McCrossan's argument, however, is the fact that both Ames/Lunda and (a third bidder) were able to submit proposals meeting MnDOT's 16.7 percent goal for DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) participation," Kyle wrote. "The court struggles to comprehend how McCrossan's equal-protection rights were violated when all three 'short-listed' contractors were subjected to the same DBE and good-faith efforts required in the regulations. ... All three contractors were operating on a level playing field, and two met the project's goal while McCrossan did not; there is simply no suggestion in the record that MnDOT's action benefited one contractor over another."

McCrossan officials said Monday they were disappointed.

"We are very unhappy with (Judge Kyle's) order," said Charley McCrossan, company CEO. "He failed to consider the most important part, which is that the taxpayers are being dinged for $6 million."

Kevin Gutknecht, MnDOT spokesman, said Monday that the agency does not discuss matters that are in litigation.

Plans call for the work on the Minnesota 36 approach to begin this spring and be completed by fall 2014. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2016.

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_23184264/stillwater-bridge-federal-judge-declines-grant-builders-injunction
Good! 

[on_wisconsin]

Aaannnnndd its on:

St. Croix bridge construction starts with a roar
Article by: KEVIN GILES , Star Tribune
Updated: May 11, 2013 - 12:40 PM

Clear-cutting of an abandoned neighborhood and the restoration of a scenic outlook now are in full swing as preparation for the new St. Croix bridge begins.


Above, Xcel Energy took down trees and power poles in Oak Park Heights south of Hwy. 36 and east of Beach Road.

Construction of a four-lane St. Croix bridge shifts this week from maps and blueprints to roaring motors and a changing landscape in Oak Park Heights, the new host city.

An influx of heavy equipment means that work on the new bridge and its approach highways has begun in earnest. The work signals an impending retirement for the 1931 Stillwater Lift Bridge, about 2 miles to the north, which in 2017 will be closed to vehicle traffic and become part of a pedestrian loop trail.

The St. Croix Crossing project includes a roadway approach on the Wisconsin side of the river, historic and environmental mitigation, and trails for walking and cycling. Dozens of contractors and thousands of workers will be involved at the peak of the construction.

"I think that the communities will have an iconic bridge they will be pleased with that will serve them for years to come," said Mary McFarland Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). "I think it will be something that people will be proud of."

Here's the latest in the two-state project, estimated to cost as much as $690 million:

• Preparation begins for reconstruction of Hwy. 36 and Hwy. 95. Work involves clearing trees and vegetation as well as removing pavement from the "Village Neighborhood" area in Oak Park Heights off Beach Road.

Work will continue for about two weeks in the area, where houses were removed in the 1990s. Roads into the work area will be barricaded. A popular traffic shortcut, 59th Street between Hwy. 95 and Stagecoach Trail, will permanently close.

Two trees with eagles' nests will be preserved in the construction zone, McFarland Brooks said. "The eagles remain in their home," she said last week.

• Crews are building a construction staging area on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River for the bridge foundations. A new dock wall will support equipment and material. Cranes and barges are being hauled to the site.

• MnDOT and its companion agency in Wisconsin will hold several public open houses to acquaint residents with the bridge project and how it affects them.

Minnesota open houses are scheduled for: May 21, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Oak Park Heights City Hall, 14168 Oak Park Blvd. N.; May 30, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Bayport Public Library, 582 4th St. N.; June 11, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd St. N.

Wisconsin open houses are scheduled for: May 23, 5-7 p.m., Hudson High School Cafeteria, 1501 Vine St.; June 4, 6:30-8 p.m., Houlton Elementary School, 70 County Hwy. E.

• Boaters can expect a channel "narrowing" and a no-wake zone beginning in late May near Sunnyside Marina. The restriction will result from work on bridge footings in the river.

• MnDOT will do public programming on Valley Cable in June to inform Washington County residents about the latest work.

• A groundbreaking for the bridge project will be held May 28 at 2:30 p.m. at Lowell Park in Stillwater. Govs. Mark Dayton of Minnesota and Scott Walker of Wisconsin are expected to attend.

• Restoration of the Lake St. Croix Overlook in Oak Park Heights has begun. Improvements will include replacing portions of the rock wall, repaving the area, replacing and updating interpretive history, and restoring landscaping to its native state.

The overlook was one of a series of "highway rests" built by the National Youth Administration, a federal poverty-relief program, in the late 1930s.

• MnDOT is writing a curriculum that schools can use to teach students about the work behind the bridge project.

The S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and math) program will make engineers and materials available to classes and already involves schools in Stillwater and Somerset, Hudson, New Richmond and Houlton in western Wisconsin.

Schools wanting to participate can contact McFarland Brooks at 651-366-4280.

• A new parking lot will be built east of Club Tara, a longtime restaurant south of Hwy. 36 in Oak Park Heights.

• MnDOT is working with the Washington County Sheriff's Office on a Code Red capability that would enable e-mail alerts to specific residents affected by construction.

• Protected mussel populations have been found on the Wisconsin side of the bridge project and no work will occur there until conservationists from both states are able to move them, McFarland Brooks said. These are different from zebra mussels, an invasive species that temporarily halted barge work recently.

Work begins soon on rebuilding frontage roads along Hwy. 36 through Oak Park Heights. Later stages will include reconstructing and realigning Hwy. 36 and rebuilding intersections at Oakgreen-Greeley and Osgood Avenues.

• On the Wisconsin side of the river, some landowners whose property lies in the path of highway construction have received purchase offers. More offers will be mailed this month, WisDOT spokeswoman Chris Ouellette said.

Owners have 60 days to seek their own appraisal if they choose. If an agreement can't be reached, WisDOT will begin eminent domain proceedings, Ouellette said.

WisDOT plans to acquire all needed property by this fall for the first portion of the highway project, which will extend about 1 mile from the bridge site to County Road E near Houlton School, where a diamond interchange will be built.

The second project will extend the highway about 2 miles from County Road E north to Hwy. 64.

• Endangered dotted blazing star flowers were moved from the path of the highway last fall, but WisDOT will check the area again this spring to make sure none remains. The dotted blazing stars are being nurtured in nurseries for transplanting this spring and summer.

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/207051111.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

[Mdcastle]

I'd like to rent a couple of boats to drive in front of the webcam with a banner "Too bad, Enviro-Wackos. Or even something less PG.

[triplemultiplex]

I'd like to rent a couple of boats to drive in front of the webcam with a banner "Too bad, Enviro-Wackos. Or even something less PG.

Because you're a dick?
Seriously I don't see the need to spite people that didn't agree with you.  This goes for a lot of people in this thread in particular.  C'mon, man!  We're getting the bridge despite some vocal objections.  Can't we just be gracious in this 'victory'?  No need to taunt the opposition.  That's what we have sports for.

[Mdcastle]

If they hadn't cost the states hundreds of millions of dollars or weren't mainly outsiders trying to impose their will on the area I might be less enthusiastic about spiting them.

[Mdcastle]

IMG_2707 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

There's a neat new side where the Wisconsin touchdown is going to be.


IMG_2705 by North Star Highways, on Flickr
A wider view. The two houses that were here have already been acquired and removed. The ROW WisDOT bought was for the Braun alignment, so they have to buy more and will have excess to sell.


IMG_2702 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_2675 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_2675 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_2690 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

The Oak Park Heights "ghost neighborhood" (most of the houses bought and removed before the lawsuit halted the project) is now deforested. The cranes in the background are building a barge terminal for the construction crews. The staging areas will be on the Minnesota side due to the steep bluffs and lack of development on the Wisconsin side.


IMG_2668 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

I'm not sure what this is.

With Flickr now offering an obscene amount of free storage, I will be transitioning most of my highway photos back there, including more photos and full sized versions.

[on_wisconsin]

Awesome thanks for sharing be sure to take more whenever you get the opportunity. On a off chance, did you happen across that "unofficial" road the local residents built in the '60s, when you where out there?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is this years schedule for the MN side:


By the time the snow flies again there will be no doubt, from the ground, as to where the bridge will go.

[Mdcastle]

I took a look at the "unofficial" road on a previous trip, but I didn't get any pictures. I wouldn't have bothered with my camera yesterday either, except it looked a lot less cloudy when I set off than when I got there (I live in the southwestern suburbs so it's a bit of a hike to get there). I guess the local teens call the overlook "Joint Point" after it's apparent primary use. I might see one car there on a nice weekend summer day, and it's going to get harder to access with the construction. 

A bit about the history of the area- Lookout drive was the original trunk highway entrance into the city from the west, so that's why a lookout was built there (with stone from the old prison). The rerouting with interchanges with MN 95 and Beach Road occurred in the 1960s. and cut off Peabody Ave from what was a regular street grid; Peabody was a dead end, where the curve is streets continued south and east.

[triplemultiplex]

IMG_2668 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

I'm not sure what this is.

Is that part of the fly ash landfill uphill from the power plant?  Thought I recall there being one adjacent to the project site right here:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=45.03429,-92.79851&z=16&t=S

[The High Plains Traveler]

So I don't have to dig through project documents from 1995, what is the "Braun alignment"? I ask because years ago I worked for a geotechnical/environmental firm named for Mr. Richard Braun.

[NE2]

So I don't have to dig through project documents from 1995, what is the "Braun alignment"? I ask because years ago I worked for a geotechnical/environmental firm named for Mr. Richard Braun.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/stcroix/background.html

In an effort to determine whether any crossing of the Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway was feasible near Stillwater, Mn/DOT and Wis/DOT invited Richard P. Braun, a retired Mn/DOT transportation commissioner, to perform an independent review of the project. Braun was asked to review the need for a replacement crossing and to investigate potential bridge alignment alternatives. In addition, he was asked to recommend an alignment and type of bridge structure that would be both feasible to construct and acceptable for implementation by the key interested parties. Between June and September of 1998, Braun conducted extensive discussions and meetings with many individuals and organizations, and facilitated public meetings with a 21-member advisory group (the St. Croix River Crossing Advisory Group) that included representatives from federal and state regulatory agencies, local and regional units of government, environmental groups, historic preservation groups, and chambers of commerce. 

Braun recommended a four-lane, deck-tied, steel arch bridge on an alignment 1, 100 meters (3,600 feet) south of the existing Stillwater Lift Bridge. The proposed bridge would cross the river perpendicularly and would be shorter than the 1995 Final EIS Preferred Alternative. The alignment would also take advantage of an existing ravine on the Wisconsin bluff, thereby reducing potential impacts on the Lower St. Croix Valley. A large majority of the St. Croix River Crossing Advisory Group agreed that they could accept the Braun recommendations.

[on_wisconsin]

FYI, here is the land in question:


I thought I had read somewhere that WisDOT plans on using a portion of the old ROW as a casting and staging yard. Then selling the land when that stage is complete.

[Coelacanth]

In addition to being the former Mn/DOT Commissioner and head of the University's Institute for Transportation Studies, Richard Braun is also the namesake of the MN-610 bridge.

Apparently the Braun of Braun Intertec is a different guy, Jack Braun. Are they related?

[Mdcastle]

IMG_2887 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_2885 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_2884 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

The unauthorized road to "Joint Point" as some of the local youngsters call it. In the second two photos at the entrance to the lookout it's covered in the green netting. After finding out Lookout Drive was the original trunk highway routing, I noticed that it appears to have ancient Department of Highways era concrete below the blacktop.

[Mdcastle]

Minnesota 36

IMG_3026 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

The "Ghost Neighborhood" has been wiped off

IMG_3028 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

The actual bridge

IMG_3035 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

MN 36 and MN 95

IMG_3039 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

IMG_3040 by North Star Highways, on Flickr

In the background is the old MN 36 overpass that's not long for this world.

It does take a lot of work to embed and comment on photos, so Flickr will be all the decent ones without comment, and I'll just embed and comment on some of the highlights here.

[on_wisconsin]

The new Beach Road overpass (on the MN side) is coming together nicely:








all are courtesy of the  St. Croix Crossing Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/saintcroixcrossingmndot

[froggie]

With the old Beach Rd overpass in the background in the first two photos...

[Mdcastle]

Guess I wasted my time driving out last weekend to get pictures...

[on_wisconsin]

Guess I wasted my time driving out last weekend to get pictures...

Not really, more pictures are always better then less (please share 'em)...
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aerial of the main span itself (looking towards Wisconsin):


from the WisDOT Facebook page

[Mdcastle]

Ask and you shall receive... a few different angles than what's been posted. Again, there's more on Flickr. Figured out why I couldn't post them here, there's a new radio button where you need to select BBCode rather than HTML.



IMG_4074 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_4073 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_4071 by North Star Highways, on Flickr


IMG_4067 by North Star Highways, on Flickr
This is more or less looking east at the future mainline.


IMG_4076 by North Star Highways, on Flickr
"Joint Point" is done. With access to Lookout drive being removed from the trunk highways on either ends it's going to be even more obscure.