The Kennedy Bridge will be closed from 1 a.m. Thursday to 1 a.m. Sunday for the third and final multi-day period this year.
Paul Konickson, a bridge engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the closure lets crews pour concrete on the southern part of the bridge deck that's directly over the Red River. He's hopeful this latest closure-which is weather-dependent-will keep the project on pace to switch traffic from two northern lanes on the bridge to two, newly finished southern lanes before the heart of winter.
The bridge will likely close briefly once again when traffic is shifted.
"It'll be one lane of traffic (in each direction) over winter, same as our current situation," he said. "Then, depending on weather, depending on how it goes, the developer is planning to remove the north half of the deck early winter-depending on weather."
The full project, launched early this year, is a more than $20 million effort to refurbish the bridge-from a new surface to painting the bridge to adding a pedestrian walkway. Crews have replaced a support pier on the river's west side, painted portions of the bridge and poured concrete in a project expected to finish in 2019.
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Traffic is expected to remain in two lanes only through much of the project, expanding back to four lanes of traffic by late 2018 before final details in the project are completed the following year.
"It's going pretty well," Konickson said. "The whole push was to get the first half of the deck done early this year. ... So they're right on pace with what they've been planning."
