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The thousand-piece steel and concrete puzzle that's the new bridge over the St. Croix River is finally fitting together.


The St. Croix Crossing hit some snags along the way, causing significant construction delays. But state transportation officials said Tuesday the bridge project is finally hitting its stride, and will be open as promised next year.


St. Croix Crossing looks like a single bridge, but it's really more like 980 mini bridges, strung end-to-end between Minnesota and Wisconsin.


Hundreds of cast concrete segments have been cinched together into what will ultimately be a 5,000-foot span with steel cables as thick as your leg, said Terry Zoller, the project's construction manager.

For St. Croix Crossing engineers, some assembly now required


"Yeah," he said standing inside the hollow interior of the concrete bridge deck where cables jutted from the ceiling, walls and floor all around him. "It's like a big rubber band."


"If you took all the cables on this whole bridge and you tied them all together, they'd actually go from here to New Orleans and back again," he said.


The bridge isn't just pulling together physically. Material shortages and equipment problems have eased. And, it's been easier to find workers now that the new Vikings stadium is built and the Dresbach Bridge south of Winona, Minn., is wrapping up.


"I think that's helping," Zoller said. "They got an early start this year, there was an early spring this year. There's always a learning curve that goes on and I think they're over that learning curve process. So I think there's a lot of things to get us moving quicker this year. And they brought in those extra cranes, too."


Two extra cranes, so that work can proceed simultaneously from both ends of the bridge.


The delays on St. Croix Crossing have added a year to the project, and some of the work has yet to be bid out, so the final bill isn't clear yet. The initial projected cost of as much as $640 million is about half the price of the new Vikings stadium. But Zoller said they aren't expecting any more surprises.


About half of the budget is for the bridge itself, the rest is for connections to nearby roads as well as ramps, trails, landscaping, repairs to the Stillwater Lift Bridge and other parts of the project.


The last of the bridge segments are being cast at a shop downstream this month. A barge will haul them upriver and the cranes hoist them into place. The last few gaps will be filled with concrete in a few months.


"The closure pours are scheduled for starting in the fall, in about November of 2016, and they'll happen through the course of the winter, into the early spring of 2017, at which point the bridge, the main span would be complete from end to end," said bridge construction engineer Paul Kivisto.


Although work is likely to continue into 2018, the bridge is expected to start carrying traffic in the fall of next year. The new bridge will replace the lift bridge in downtown Stillwater and carry more than 30,000 cars a day between Minnesota and Wisconsin.

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St. Croix Crossing is really more like 980 mini bridges, strung end-to-end between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Those puzzle pieces are finally being fitted together.

Looks like a bridge: Pieces fall into place at St. Croix Crossing

Evan Frost | MPR News

Workers on top of the St. Croix Crossing. 

A construction worker prepares bridge segments. 

Workers ready the bridge for another segment. 

Looks like a bridge: Pieces fall into place at St. Croix Crossing

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