New Broadway Bridge begins to take form
A major milestone in the construction of the Broadway Bridge occurred Thursday when crews began pouring a new pier column for a section of the bridge just south of the Souris River.
Piers and abutments form the substructure of the bridge. The new bridge will have six piers and two abutments.
“It’s a pretty exciting portion of the project,” said Mark Lyman, project information officer, at a news conference on site Thursday. “It’s exciting because it’s some of the first concrete that’s going above ground to form the new Broadway Bridge.”
Thursday’s concrete pour was small in the entire scope of the project, involving about 27 cubic yards of material. The entire project on the east bridge is expected to use nearly 4,000 cubic yards of concrete.
“It always feels good to put the first portions of concrete down and start to see the progress of the work you have in to this point, Project Manager Brian Bee of Lunda Construction said in a prepared statement. “And while this concrete is only a small percentage of the total needed to build the entire east bridge this year, it’s great to get this milestone under our belt early in the season.”
The pour of the 27 cubic yards was to take about three hours, using three trucks to haul concrete. The project specifications call for just over 2,800 cubic yards of concrete to be used to form the east bridge, with another 910 cubic yard to form the abutments, or concrete approaches, on the north and south ends of the bridge.
Meanwhile, crews continue to demolish the old east bridge. That work is about 80 percent complete.
The new bridge, including approaches, will be nearly 1,000 feet long. Completion is anticipated by late October. Traffic over the west bridge will continue to provide north and south access through the area during the construction.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and City of Minot, is replacing the east bridge this year. Work started in March. The west bridge is to be replaced next year. The roadway carries about 30,000 vehicles a day.