Photo: #These workers are working on the northside approach of the new 35W bridge. The green rebar reinforces the concrete. Eventually, cars will be driving over this stretch southbound towards downtown Minneapolis. This location is about one carlength from the beginning of the span over the river.
Photo: #This view is from the north side of the span looking south. From here you can see the work completed so far, the 4 box girders which will make up the two 35W bridges (North and South), and the width of the span still to be completed over the Mississippi River. To the left is the Cedar Avenue bridge.
Photo: #This view, looking south from the north side, shows the wooden casting bed, and the elaborate network of green rebar which will undergird much of the poured concrete. While this is a concrete bridge, MnDot's Kevin Gutknecht says the bridge structure will have tons of steel.
Photo: #You get a good sense here of the massive scale of the box girders which will suspend over the river. You can also see the arching of this section of span which will be in the center of the span.
Photo: #The scaffolding, or "false work," which holds up the parts of the structure during construction. It's called "false work" because it will all be removed when the "real" bridge's members are all in place. From here you can also see part of the old Fourth Street abutment.
Photo: #Kevin Gutknecht is a Public Information Officer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He is at the site regularly, and was our tour guide. He says he likes "showing off the bridge."
Photo: #These huge horizotal cranes are used to lift each box girder. The girders are then placed on a flat bed truck, and brought to the gathering site downriver at Bohemian Flats. From there they will be trucked up to a waiting barge in the Mississippi River ("Big Ben") which will hang them in place over the river.
Photo: #The wooden scaffolding and casting form surround one of the concerete box girders that will make up the two spans of the new 35W bridges. The box girders are 11 feet high at the shortest point -- the center of the bridge span -- to 25 feet at the tallest point, closer to the river banks.)
About 600 workers are working 12-hour shifts, 24-hours a day, seven days a week on both sides of the river to get the 35W bridge rebuilt in the shortest amount of time possible. (MPR Video/Sam Choo)
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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour on August 1, 2007, plunging dozens of cars and their occupants into the river.

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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Touring the 35W bridge construction site

by Tom Crann, Minnesota Public Radio
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Minneapolis, Minn. — Work on the replacement I-35W bridge in Minneapolis seems to be moving along surprisingly fast.

The southern approach span over the west bank of the Mississippi River is already finished up to the pier.

About 600 workers are working 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on both sides of the river to get the bridge rebuilt in the shortest amount of time possible.

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View from the north

Crews are expected to begin attaching portions of the main bridge segments over the river from the south end later this week.

To get a closer look at the bridge segments before they went up, All Things Considered host Tom Crann took a tour of the construction site with Kevin Gutknecht last week.

Gutknecht is the I-35W bridge project information officer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

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