After back-to-back weather delays, the long-planned weekend closure of Interstate 94 east of downtown St. Paul was short-lived.
This time, plummeting temperatures were not the culprit for yet another delay in the replacement of the Kellogg Boulevard/Third Street bridge.
After closing a section of I-94 in both directions on Friday night, crews planning to set beams for the new bridge scrapped the operation the next morning and had the interstate reopened by about noon on Saturday, more than 24 hours ahead of schedule.
The problem? Work crews with Lunda Construction were not able to get their trailer situated correctly to pick up and set the first beam, which repeatedly rolled or leaned on the trailer, making it unsafe to back into position given the elevation of the highway. After deliberating for about two hours on Saturday morning, they abandoned the effort.
Beam setting will be rescheduled for a future weekend.
A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Transportation referred questions to St. Paul Public Works. While MnDOT is in charging of closing segments of the interstate when bridge work necessitates, the Kellogg Blvd/Third Street bridge replacement is a city project.
“They had some unforeseen technical difficulties with the beam, so they got the interstate reopened as quickly as possible,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokesperson for St. Paul Public Works. “It sounds like they need some extra-specialized equipment, and now they have to work with MnDOT to determine when that can happen because it requires the interstate to be closed in order to get these beams in place.”
Hiebert said more information will likely become available later this week.
This isn’t the first delay for the beam setting. The planned weekend closure of I-94 was rescheduled from Jan. 16 through Jan. 18 to Jan. 23 through Jan. 25 due to severe cold and weather-related safety conditions, and then postponed again from Jan. 23 though Jan. 25 to Feb. 6 through Feb. 8 due to weather.
The $91 million bridge replacement project began in July 2024 and is expected to be complete in the fall of 2027. The bridge, which connects Kellogg Boulevard from Broadway Street to Mounds Boulevard, was limited to its three center lanes in 2014 after cracks were found in the bridge’s cantilevers, the support arms extending from the structure’s piers.
A city review found the structure was no longer in step with updated federal standards, but it took another decade for the city to assemble funding for bridge demolition and replacement.
For more information, visit stpaul.gov/kellogg-3.
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