US 71 West Fork Des Moines River Bridge

Here's an article about the new replacement span being open. It is much wider than the previous one, yet the lanes have now been restricted to three lane instead of four lane. Whether that will be effective in the long term remains to be seen. Yet the new span is nearly identical to the State and Ashley Street Crossings. Rather boring when you look at them..... http://www.exploreokoboji.com/news/news-stories/highway-71-b...

Update on the US 71 Bridge in Jackson, MN (USA): The 1954 concrete cantilever span is currently being dismantled in segments. The southern half has long since been removed and workers are working on a cassion to remove the water from the Des Moines River so that they can install a new steel pier and wingwall on the south end. Once that is completed, the northern half will be removed so that the same procedure is done on that end as well. For those who are in the Jackson area this summer, there is still a chance to photograph the northern half of the bridge before that is gone by August. The bridge was built in 1954 by Feller Construction in Rochester, MN replacing a 1924 through truss bridge, which was relocated to a crossing at State Street and served traffic until its demolition and replacement in 1985. When the 1954 bridge is gone, then the history in connection with this bridge will be a memory. More on the construction to come. JS

Update on the US 71 bridge replacement project: The bridge will be replaced as part of the plan to convert US 71 into a three-lane un-divided highway, where two lanes will be northbound going up the hill and one lane will head south into the city from Interstate 90 as part of the plan to regulate the speed limit going into Jackson. There has been talk of constructing a roundabout at the intersection of US 71 & Industrial Parkway, located just south of I-90 but has not bore fruit at the time of this entry. In either case, the highway between I-90 and downtown Jackson and this bridge will be redone starting in the Spring 2015 with the project to be completed by 2016.

JS