Minnesota

[Mdcastle]

Old and New Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway signs illustrating how bad yellow ink fades on highway signs.




The new US 14 Freeway, going generally from West to East. Converting US 14 to four lanes between New Ulm and Rochester has been a decades-long project, and as things are now will take decades more. The two lane sections are among the most dangerous roads in the state and there's much political will from the area to get it done. Older sections were built as expressways, but Mn/DOT realized the error of that approach and is building new sections as interstate compatible freeway.


Right now the freeway is complete to the MN 13 interchange south of Waseca. As such the last segment is really only usable for traffic going between 14 west and 13 south. This sign is telling through traffic to leave the freeway at the last exit before the bypass and take the old road through town




These two are looking north on 13 at the new interchange with the 14 freeway, the US 14 shield assembly is just to the right and behind the overview picture. I'm not sure what they were thinking. If you want to go west on 14 you can get on the freeway at this interchange but if you want to go east you have to go straight ahead into town and meet up with the old road, to me the signs don't really convey that message.




Two views looking west from overpasses for loca roads. Mn/DOT likes to use concrete a lot, and the shoulders will be fully paved with asphalt.



Looking west approaching the new cloverleaf with I-35. This was going to be built as diamond in the original plans, but funding was found for a system interchange at the last minute.



Looking north at the new interchange from I-35. The cloveleaf is complete, but the road ends just beyond to the west.

[Ian]

Cool photos! I like how Minnesota uses those support posts behind the sign gantries to help hold it up.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Cool photos! I like how Minnesota uses those support posts behind the sign gantries to help hold it up.

I have seen a sign on U.S. 169 in the Twin Cities west suburbs bent completely forward with the supporting posts ripped out of the ground. Combine wet ground and a big@$$ gust of wind and even six of those channel posts will bend.

[Mdcastle]

Hastings Bridge Replacement


The doomed bridge in the background, with it's replacement in the foreground. The old Hastings bridge opened in 1951 and is historic, but is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, it's only two lanes wide but carries 30,000 vehicles a day. The old bridge is to be another casualty of the I-35W bridge collapse. In the political fallout the legislature fired the transportation comissioner who was Pawlenty's stooge and opposed a gasoline tax increase, passed the increase over Pawlenty's veto, and directed the money be used to rehabilitate or replace bridges. Part of the stipulation was if a fracture-critical bridge needed major rehabilitation, it needed to either be replaced or rehabilitated to a redundant design. An early concept was to build a two lane tied-arch bridge next to the old one, as was done next to the "Big Blue Bridge", but the option was scrapped when investigation revealed that to rehabiliate the old bridge to a redundant design would destroy the historic character, as well as taking twice as long to construct. Mn/DOT offered the bridge to local agencies for preservation as a pedestrian bridge, but as with the bridge's predecessor the Spiral Bridge their were no takers.

The three options for replacement were a girder bridge, a tied arch bridge, and a cable-stayed bridge. Most residents wanted a "look at me" bridge (although a minority actually favored a nondescript girder bridge as it would improve drivers view of downtown and the river). There wasn't a strong cost difference or local consensus between a tied-arch bridge and a cable stayed bridge, so Mn/DOT allowed contracters to bid on either design, and a tied-arch bridge won the low bid.



Two more views of the bridge.


The JB Hudson plant, they've manufactured agricultural sprinklers here since the early 1900s. The new bridge took out their warehouse. Although there would have been enough space to rebuild in on-site, instead they opted to decamp and move to a vacant building in the industrial park on the southeast side of town. The city of Hastings in investigating converting the old building into into a hotel.



A contractor staging area a short distance upriver. The arches will be built on land here, then transfered to barges and floated to the new bridge. You can see the top of the old bridge from here, but I didn't use that angle since it was facing into the sun. In the first picture the cliffs are on the other side of the river a lot farther than they look; I was using my telephoto range here. I'm not sure exactly what all the stuff is for lying around, but there's four upright poles that appear to be about the correct distance from each other to be for resting the ends of the arches on.

[Alps]

Can't wait to check out the construction, keep the photos coming!

[Mdcastle]

Minnesota's named highways.

Besides the usual city streets, many Minnesota highways have names. The 1st group is what I term the "Officially Named Highways", trunk highways that have names written into state law, most of which memorialize a person or group of people. The second group is the Scenic Byways, there are 22 reckonized by the state tourism , some are also reckonized by the national scenic byways program and/or the National Forest Service.  There is some overlap between the first two groups. The final group, "Unfofficially named highways" are just various highways were local groups that put reckognition signs up.



Most of the signs for officially named highways show the creativity you'd normally expect from a state agency; white text on BGS green, the same size as state highway markers. This Olof Hansen Drive marker, designating MN 299 in Faribault is the only standard one I'll be posting. There are a few variations, for example the Amish Buggy Byway (marked as Amish Byway) sign (which despite it's name is not an official scenic byway). The Amish moved into southeastern Minnesota decades ago, and roads have wide, paved shoulders to acomodate them.

The first signs were erected in the late 1950s, and Mn/DOT eventually got tired of having to pay for all these signs, some of the routes were rather extensive going all over the state. Finally in 1996 they got a law passed that for new designations the funding for signs had to come from a non DOT source, ie whoever wanted them. In practice they started also removing old signs that were worn out when there wa no one interested in paying for the replacement, even though they weren't officially allowed to do this until the law was modified in 2009. There are also a number of officially named bridges, I've not been taking pictures of those signs since tend to be difficult to do legal and safely, and are without exception the the white text on green so  I don't see the art in visually collecting them.

The Hiawatha Pioneer Trail is an officially named highway that dates from the early 1960s. Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin picked their "top 20" tourist attractions and designated the HPT connecting them. The idea came, interestingly enough, the American Petrolium Institute to, umh, encourage people to use more of their products but was supported by the state tourism boards. However interest soon waned. Illinois pulled down it's signs in 1972, Minnesota and Wisconsin did gradually over the years, and Iowa finally gave up in 2008.

These are as far as I know the only HPT signs left in the state, originally they were a deep gold. The second one show's it's former life as a night speed limit sign. The only night speed limit after the national speed limit repeal was on a stretch of US/MN 61 near Gooseberry Falls state park that lasted until about 2000 so it's either from there or it predates the national speed limit. Signs do get around, I once saw a BGS from Duluth sitting in a Mn/DOT storage yard in the Twin Cities.

There's a lot of material on the Great River Road, which is a Scenic Byway and Officially Named Highway in Minnesota so I won't repeat it, but I will comment on the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway. It's the only urban National Scenic Byway, you can drive 3/4 of the way around Minneapolis on parkways following water much of the way. Work on completing the long stalled gap is in planning again after being forgotten about for decades. Most of the parkways also include a bicycle and pedestrian trail, seperated where space allows.


The "sky" in the Grand Rounds sign was originally a light yellow, but has faded out.


Simplified versons as used on the bicycle trails.




Two more scenic byway signs.


The unofficially named Bushaway Road. After years of fighting with NIMBYS to improve the road the state gave up and gave it to Hennepin County, who continues the fight. The sign was put up by neighborhood groups to emphasize the scenic and historic (as opposed to extremely dangerous for modern traffic) aspecs of the road.

[froggie]

After years of fighting with NIMBYS to improve the road the state gave up and gave it to Hennepin County, who continues the fight.

As I understand it, the only way the state (i.e. MnDOT) would take over Crosstown Highway and the former County 18 freeway was for the county to take Bushaway Rd (and several others) to begin with.  And that's how it happened.

[Alps]

Minnesota's named highways.

These are as far as I know the only HPT signs left in the state, originally they were a deep gold. The second one show's it's former life as a night speed limit sign. The only night speed limit after the national speed limit repeal was on a stretch of US/MN 61 near Gooseberry Falls state park that lasted until about 2000 so it's either from there or it predates the national speed limit. Signs do get around, I once saw a BGS from Duluth sitting in a Mn/DOT storage yard in the Twin Cities.

This sign, it is where?

[Mdcastle]

It's on MN 5 / W 7th Street, in St. Paul heading east about a half block before MN 51 / Montreal on an assembly with a no parking and truck route signs. (The one in much better condition is on US 10/61 southbound attached to the confirmation shields after the MN 95 signal.)

[The High Plains Traveler]

After years of fighting with NIMBYS to improve the road the state gave up and gave it to Hennepin County, who continues the fight.

As I understand it, the only way the state (i.e. MnDOT) would take over Crosstown Highway and the former County 18 freeway was for the county to take Bushaway Rd (and several others) to begin with.  And that's how it happened.

Bushaway Road is part of former MN-101, now Hennepin County 101, where it runs south from Wayzata. Although the state-county agreement for swaps of a number of routes included this segment, MnDOT had to complete an improvement project before Hennepin County would take the portion of 101 south of U.S. 12 including this one. The transfer ("turnback") thus didn't take place for several years after the initial transfers (about 1989). I'm not sure whether Carver County was a signatory to the agreement, but they have been slow to take over the remaining pieces of MN-101 in that county.

[nexus73]

Mdcastle, thank you for the great photo essay of Minnesota signs and highways.  Since I have never been to that state, it was quite nice to be able to see what things look like over there.  My youngest brother lives in Hibbing so if you ever get to the Iron Range, I hope you will have some pix to post up!

Rick

[texaskdog]

After years of fighting with NIMBYS to improve the road the state gave up and gave it to Hennepin County, who continues the fight.

As I understand it, the only way the state (i.e. MnDOT) would take over Crosstown Highway and the former County 18 freeway was for the county to take Bushaway Rd (and several others) to begin with.  And that's how it happened.

Bushaway Road is part of former MN-101, now Hennepin County 101, where it runs south from Wayzata. Although the state-county agreement for swaps of a number of routes included this segment, MnDOT had to complete an improvement project before Hennepin County would take the portion of 101 south of U.S. 12 including this one. The transfer ("turnback") thus didn't take place for several years after the initial transfers (about 1989). I'm not sure whether Carver County was a signatory to the agreement, but they have been slow to take over the remaining pieces of MN-101 in that county.

Have they ever straightened 101?  Was very amused that rather than upgrade it they turned it back to the county.

[froggie]

I'm not sure whether Carver County was a signatory to the agreement, but they have been slow to take over the remaining pieces of MN-101 in that county.

To my knowledge, they weren't.  Hence why MnDOT is still going through separate negotiations with Carver County and Chanhassan.

[The High Plains Traveler]

After years of fighting with NIMBYS to improve the road the state gave up and gave it to Hennepin County, who continues the fight.

As I understand it, the only way the state (i.e. MnDOT) would take over Crosstown Highway and the former County 18 freeway was for the county to take Bushaway Rd (and several others) to begin with.  And that's how it happened.

Bushaway Road is part of former MN-101, now Hennepin County 101, where it runs south from Wayzata. Although the state-county agreement for swaps of a number of routes included this segment, MnDOT had to complete an improvement project before Hennepin County would take the portion of 101 south of U.S. 12 including this one. The transfer ("turnback") thus didn't take place for several years after the initial transfers (about 1989). I'm not sure whether Carver County was a signatory to the agreement, but they have been slow to take over the remaining pieces of MN-101 in that county.

Have they ever straightened 101?  Was very amused that rather than upgrade it they turned it back to the county.

IIRC (and that was 20 years ago), I think the improvement project Hennepin County insisted that MnDOT complete before route turnback involved the Grays Bay Bridge rather than any significant widening.

[froggie]

That is my understanding as well.

[Mdcastle]

Maybe I'll stick with photography and leave the history lessons to others, but Highway 101 could have a whole thread by itself. It originally ran from Savage to Elk River as a two lane road with a lot of narrow, twisty segments, but Mn/DOT only wants to keep the sections from MN 13 to US 169, which is functionally an extended ramp, and the segment north of Rogers which is slowly becoming a freeway. Some of it has been converted to 4 lane, some by Mn/DOT, some by the counties, some by Mn/DOT to get the counties to agree to accept it. Because of varying stages of turnback agreements, there are three seperart marked segments of MN 101, and a few secret routes for good measure. I believe what Hennepin county wants for the "Bushaway Road" segment is just a two lane segment with shoulders, gentler curves- IRC one is advised at 15 mph or some such, turn lanes, and a bicycle trail. It's a thickly wooded stretch with narrow ROW and historic properties nearby so even these modest improvements would have a substantial effect on the character.

What are people interested in pictures of? Road construction? Interesting signs? Generic signs? Roads? Roadside scenery? Archival pictures of old construction projects or the I-35W collapse aftermath? Whatever I feel like posting?

[froggie]

Given how little I get back home, I'd prefer "All of the above".

[Mdcastle]

Rushing Rapids Parkway Scenic Byway Phototour

It's raining here so I'm spending the weekend going through my archives. My film archives are a mess and I have a lot of them; I've never liked the harsh "digital" look of digicams, and switched late and only reluctantly, so I have 6 years of analog highway photos, combined with newer digital ones that's well over a thousand.  I lost one of my archival CDs to a gouge, some of the older stuff I only scanned the print and only at a low resolution for people's highway endings sites, and I no longer have a film scanner. Some of the better old stuff that I don't have a high resolution archive for I'm sending out to a commercial scanning service, combined with what I have I'm doing a spreadsheet so I can finally keep track of it all.

Anyway, heres some from my archives. Rushing Rapids Parkway is a state reckonized scenic byway from Carlton to Duluth.


The sign is a stylized depiction of the rushing rapids of the St. Louis River, and the Swing Bridge in Jay Cooke State Park. The water really is brownish; from tannins.


I'm not sure if the byway officially begins at the city limits of Carlton or at this junction, but I like this picture so here it is. MN 210 goes straigh here, and MN 45 starts and goes to the right. Originally this was the main route to Duluth; prior to the 1930s Constitutional Route 1 and later US 61 used to come in from straight ahead and make a turn to the right.


Old through truss bridge by the town of Thompson


The Thomson dam is a 1907 hydroelectric dam. The energy company donated a lot of the land the later became Jay Cooke state park.


In Jay Cooke State Park. It's one of the larger, and one of the better state parks. This is one of the few places where you can see the river from the road due to the dense vegetation. This used to be old growth pine forest but like most of the state loggers got every last one around the turn of the century, it's now mixed forest, althought pines are slowly making a comeback.


Some of the rapids



The swing bridge. The first bridge here was a wood suspension bridge that was built in 1924, then the stone bridge was built in 1935. A flood destroyed it in 1950 and it was rebuilt in 1953. (I don't know if the stone piers survived, but the entire deck structure didn't) The concrete caps were added to stablize it in the late 1970s. It's a suspension bridge but it known as the swing bridge because the deck has enough flexability you can stomp on it and make "swing".


Typical scenery


The end of MN 210 (and of the byway) in Duluth.

[twinsfan87]

I used to live in Duluth, and I love the Jay Cooke area. Playing around on the big rocks in the river and freaking people out by making the bridge swing were two really fun memories from when I was younger.

[froggie]

We drove this road in 2007, as I recall.  Is the pavement east of Jay Cooke park still as horrid as it was then?

[texaskdog]

Great memories!  One winter day we drove back from Duluth and attempted to take 210 back to 35.  We got stuck going uphill heading west and slid backwards, and there was no room to turn around either.  Eventually got ourselves out and headed back east and took 23 back home.

[Mdcastle]

I don't know how the pavement is now, these pictures are from before when we were there and I haven't been that way since.

[Mdcastle]

The Plymouth and Lowry Bridges

The Plymouth Ave Bridge was built in 1983 and was the first segmental concrete girder bridge built in Minnesota. However it was not aged well even in that short time. The post-tensioned cables were discovered to be corroded in a routine inspection, and the bridge was shut down October 2010. After further review, they determined the bridge could support it's own dead load, so it was reopened to pedestrians in January 2011. Bicyclists and pedestrians are restricted to the south sidewalk, they're not a allowed onto the roadway or north sidewalk.

It's taken this long for the city of Minneapolis to get funding and figure out how to go about doing things. Minneapolis and Hennepin County are responsible for about 10 major bridges across the Mississippi and would really like Mn/DOT to take over them because they don't have the same kind of resources. Where St Paul / Ramsey county have one bridge. Minneapolis was planning to do some of the demolition work necessary to get access to the cables, but ultimately they couldn't rent the specialized equipment so they finally just bid the whole think out and it should be repaired this summer.


The barricades on the west side.


Empty roadway


Mind numbingly boring design repaced a 1886 iron through truss structure

The Lowry Bridge piers dated from 1905, the trusses wore out and were replaced in 1958. In 2004 while being repainted it was discovered one of the piers had shifted 11 inches. The thinking was that over time there was lateral pressure by the pier against the bearing, then finally it snapped and shifted. The bearing was replaced and it was thought that it wouldn't move again, and it was hoped to get another 20 years of life out of the structure, but in 2008 it shifted again and was at the end of the bearing, and the new bearing was at the edge of the pier. This was a warm spring day; it was feared in the heat of the summer steel of the bridge would expand, snap the bearing, and fall into the river. The bridge was closed and dynamited and plans for replacement started. The residents didn't want yet another boring concrete girder bridge, so a basket handle tied arch bridge was selected at a cost of an extra $14 million.


Telephoto view looking east. The foreground is the I-94 overpass, note the fence on the right.




Three views looking east and northeast.


Approach road forms.


Looking north on the east side, the bridge is two the left. Neither neighborhood is very classy, note the run-down liquor stores on each side of the street, but the west side is much worse. When the bridge is closed crime goes down on the east side, of course the politically correct people have fits when it's brought up because the west side is largely black.

Note the detour sign. 10 points if someone can tell me two things wrong with it. 100 points if not from here.

[twinsfan87]

Hennepin County uses blue pentagons for county shields, and even if they did use the white square county markers, that shield in the picture is not square anyway!

I live in NE Minneapolis and drive by (and get bothered by) these shields almost every day, so I guess I only get 10 points

[Mdcastle]

Another old sign, this one's on West River Parkway under I-94. The front is a "no left turn" sign, you can see from the back in it's former life it was a MN state highway marker. I think it may have been used for detours, since the numbers look "pasted on". This one may not be long for the world since it was evidently struck by a vehicle, the sign is bent and the pole is at a 45 degree angle.