Washington Avenue Bridge Delays Start Saturday, February 26

This Central Corridor Light Rail Transit News Advisory was recently issued:

MINNEAPOLIS - Feb. 23, 2011 - People headed Saturday to University of Minnesota men's basketball and hockey games and other East Bank events can expect delays on the Washington Avenue Bridge due to work on the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project. 

Drivers should use either the Tenth Avenue or Interstate 35W bridges as alternate routes to reach Williams and Mariucci arenas and other campus destinations via University Avenue.

Weather permitting, crews on Saturday will close the bridge's inner lanes to traffic to remove a median at the east end of the Washington Avenue Bridge.  Traffic will be restricted to one lane each way on the outer lanes. Drivers can expect continued delays next week as crews remove the median on the west end of the bridge.

Drivers will see more lane shifts beginning in early March, when traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction on the north side of the bridge. This change is needed to make room on the south side of the bridge to erect equipment so construction can begin in late March to replace the bridge's vehicle deck and add double tracks for Central Corridor trains.

In 2012, traffic will be shifted to the newly built south side while the vehicle deck is removed on the north side.

Cyclists and pedestrians on the upper deck of the bridge will continue using the north side this year and be shifted to the south side in 2012.

Crews have been working on the piers under the bridge off of West River Parkway in Minneapolis since late 2010. There are no anticipated impacts from this work to pedestrian and bike paths along the parkway nor are there anticipated impacts to those traveling on the bridge or under it via the parkway. Work in 2011 and 2012 will include adding girders and other design elements to strengthen the bridge.

Heavy construction on Washington Avenue on the East Bank will begin after classes end in mid-May. At that time, vehicles will be removed from the avenue between Pleasant and Oak streets during construction. The avenue will be converted into a transit-pedestrian mall from Pleasant to Walnut streets with two tracks in the middle and one lane on each side for emergency vehicles and cyclists. This work will continue through 2012.

More detailed information will be made available online at www.centralcorridor.org and distributed via a weekly electronic construction update. The public can sign up for those updates online.

For answers to frequently asked questions about the bridge and how LRT will change Washington Avenue through the University of Minnesota, see: http://www.metrocouncil.org/transportation/ccorridor/ccWABfaq.htm