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Beginning next week, Winona’s Interstate Bridge will be reduced to one lane for six days a week until Minnesota Department of Transportation crews finish repairs to the bridge’s sidewalk and joints.
The repairs — which should begin Monday — will cause the closure of the Wisconsin-bound lane of the bridge from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays until repairs are finished, MnDOT spokeswoman Kristine Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the lane closures will expedite the repairs, which are expected to allow pedestrians and bikes back on the bridge by mid-October.
“If traffic begins to back up, then (crews) will make adjustments,” Hernandez said.
The bridge’s joints will be cleaned and painted, its concrete sidewalk surface replaced with timber, and its sidewalk supports overhauled as part of the $988,550 contract that MnDOT announced on Monday.
With the new contract included, MnDOT now has spent more than $1.28 million as a result of the bridge closure. MnDOT previously spent about $108,000 to reinforce corroded gusset plates that forced the complete closure of the bridge in early June. The agency also reimbursed the city of Winona for about $150,000 to ferry commuters across the Mississippi River during the closure.
The new bridge-repair agreement gives the contractor, Edward Kraemer and Sons, Inc., a 50-calendar-day timeline for completion. If the work is done before that, the contractor gets a $6,250 incentive for each day it’s early — though the contractor gets penalized the same amount for each day late. Hernandez says MnDOT has used these types of incentives for repair contracts before, but it’s not a typical practice.
“In this case, it was important for the work to get done as quickly as possible,” Hernandez said.
