Post in Bridge relocation

Jun 23 22:28 UTC

I drove Riverview this morning while heading to work and thought about
traffic entering and leaving the bridge from 2nd Street.  Currently, the
bridge has traffic that enters and exits the bridge from 4th St. This
incline already is rather steep, and I've noticed over the years that
trucks leaving 4th St. and having to turn onto the bridge have a tough
time getting power.  I do believe that any semi traffic leaving from 2nd
St (2 entire city blocks) would find the incline to get up and over the
main channel of the river very difficult unless the truck had a good
head of steam prior to entering the bridge area.  One also must remember
that the edge of the dike system is along the main channel of the river
which requires the bridge to be a great deal above the waterway on the
Winona side compared to the Latsch Island side.  With the steep incline
and the sharp turn that was noted in Mr. Hittner's design, I think this
would be a difficult maneuver for large vehicles.  Land would also have
to be acquired from the railroad and from whoever owns the property
since the ramp leading to the bridge will leave the property useless.  I
would doubt they would be willing to give up any property, and I doubt
eminent domain can be used to take railroad property.  Just my 2 cents.

I hate to say it but MNDOT will do whatever MNDOT wants to do.  Winona
has historically been a pain in MNDOT's backside so I wonder if they
will even be willing to work with Winona.  I would venture to say that
we will find the bridge coming off of Huff St and Huff will end up being
widened to accommodate the increase  in  traffic.

Chris Nelson