New Hastings bridge 'a gawker issue'

Minnesota transportation officials now say it will likely be Friday before they float pieces of the new Highway 61 into place.

The bridge span, weighing 6.5 million pounds, was rolled onto barges Sunday and is waiting upstream from the construction site.

MnDOT plans to close the existing Highway 61 bridge over the Mississippi in Hastings while crews float the new span into place. Project manager Steve Kordosky says the closure will likely take place on Friday at 8:30 a.m.

"It's a gawker issue that I'm concerned about," he said. "It's a pretty impressive piece of steel that we'll be floating downstream, and I'm a little worried about gawker slowdown and access on Highway 61."

The old bridge will stay closed until the new one is secured. Kordosky says the new bridge is the longest "tied arch" bridge of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

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