Like Duluth in the northeastern corner of the state, Winona, in the southeastern corner, is a border town that relies on a big bridge.
And right now is not a good time to be reliant on a big bridge.
Last summer, one of Minnesota's biggest, or busiest, collapsed without warning. The failure of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis killed 13, injured 145 and shocked millions, focusing long-needed attention on the state's and nation's aging infrastructure.
In St. Paul, state officials reacted with an aggressive blitz of bridge inspections.
In March, in St. Cloud, the inspectors found bent gusset plates on the Minnesota Highway 23 bridge, similar to those believed to be a cause of the Minneapolis collapse. Transportation officials immediately shut down the bridge and work has begun to replace rather than to fix it, a nod to erring on the side of doing more than enough to assure safety.
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Last month in Duluth, inspectors determined 16 gusset plates in eight places along the Blatnik Bridge needed to be strengthened to support a road surface made wider and heavier since the plates were installed. Officials closed two of the bridge's four lanes to avoid overstressing the gusset plates. This summer, only one lane will be open in one direction for as long as four weeks while the repairs are completed. The Bong Bridge will be open in both directions as an alternate route.
In Winona, the Minnesota Highway 43 bridge over the Mississippi River is so spectacular it was featured in the state's official sesquicentennial postage stamp.
This Tuesday, it was shut down. Minnesota Department of Transportation inspectors found corrosion, holes and bending in some of the gusset plates that help hold up the 67-year-old span.
Winona doesn't have a backup Bong like Duluth does. The closest bridge is 30 miles away, meaning a long time sans span translating to hellish hassles. Anyone working in Winona but living on the other side of the bridge suddenly has a 60- to 70-mile commute to work rather than the four or five miles they're used to. That is, if they can afford such a commute with gas prices at $4 a gallon. And gas stations and bars on the Wisconsin side of the bridge will suffer without traffic and easy access from Winona, the area's population center. Some relief is on the way via a riverboat shuttle starting next week.
Nonetheless, slower traffic and lengthy detours due to bridge work and closures are nothing to bear when the alternative is the possibility of another tragic accident.
