Dakota County Bridge Is 'Busiest Structurally Deficient' In MN

EAGAN, MN —A highway bridge near Burnsville was named the busiest structurally deficient bridge in Minnesota in a recent report put out by the advocacy group American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

In its 8th annual national report, which was released last month, the ARTBA found that the I-35 West bridge, which runs over West Cliff Rd. and Union Pacific railroad tracks has an average of 92,000 daily crossings. Yet the bridge, which was built in 1959, is classified as structurally deficient.

"Structurally deficient bridges do not necessarily pose imminent risk to those crossing," the ARTBA wrote in its report. "They do, however, require significant investment to avoid becoming hazardous or to avoid restrictions on the weight or speed of vehicles crossing."

President Joe Biden took steps toward improving these bridges when he signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last November. The legislation allocates $550 billion for the rebuilding of key infrastructure, like bridges.

Of course, it will take years to carry out repairs on the estimated 46,000 neglected bridges in the U.S.

In Minnesota, according to the ARTBA, there are 618 bridges considered to be structurally deficient, which equals 4.6 percent of the 13,496 bridges in the state.

The number of deficient bridges in Minnesota has been reduced somewhat since 2017, when there were 706 bridges in that category.

Meanwhile, the state has identified needed repairs on 2,613 bridges, according to the ARTBA, which would cost an estimated $1.7 billion.

Again, that number has been reduced since 2017, when 2,857 bridges were in need of work.

The second busiest structurally deficient bridge in Minnesota is in Anoka County —US 10 over the Rum River —which has an estimated 66,000 daily crossings.

The other Dakota County bridge that falls among the state's top 24 busiest structurally deficient bridges is located where Msas 102 runs over I-35 W. That bridge, built in 1969, is crossed by an estimated 16,8000 people daily

According to the ARTBA, Minnesota ranks 40th in the nation in its percentage of structurally deficient bridges. West Virginia has the largest percentage of structurally deficient bridges (20.4 percent)

Minnesota ranks 23rd in the number of structurally deficient bridges, with Iowa at the top of that list (4,504).

Learn more about the report on the ARTBA website.