Washington Avenue Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 44°58′24″N93°14′21″W / 44.97333°N 93.23917°W |
Carries | Upper deck: Bicycles and pedestrians Lower deck: County Road 122, one auto lane each direction and the METRO Green Line light rail |
Crosses | Mississippi River |
Locale | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Maintained by | Hennepin County, Minnesota (1997–present) Minnesota Department of Transportation (1965–1997) |
ID number | 9360 |
Characteristics | |
Design | Plate girder bridge |
Total length | 1130 feet |
Longest span | 251 feet |
Clearance below | 70 feet |
History | |
Opened | 1965 |
Location | |
The Washington Avenue Bridge carries County Road 122 and the METRO Green Line light rail across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and connects the East Bank and West Bank portions of the University of Minnesota campus. The bridge has two decks, with the lower deck designated for motor vehicle traffic and light rail trains and the upper deck used for pedestrians and bicycles (lanes specifically for bikes are on the north side). It is a utilitarian structure with simple architecture, but it has cultural significance because thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors walk across it every day.
Most users of the bridge get across it using some mode other than a personal automobile. Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic counts from 2007 show the bridge carried about 28,400 vehicles per day at that time. [1] However, multiple counts from 2009 indicate the bridge carried a total of 71,400 people per day when other modes were also included. The greatest single mode was still motor vehicles at 37.6%, but 32.7% used bus transit, 19.9% walked, and 9.6% used bicycles, with a remaining 0.3% using other methods such as inline skating. The bridge is a cycling hot spot and, with 6,850 riders per day, may carry more bikes than any other route in Minneapolis. [2]
In 2011, as part of construction for the METRO Green Line light rail, reconfiguration of the bridge began. The original two eastbound and westbound traffic lanes were permanently reduced to one lane eastbound and one lane westbound, using the outside lanes. The two inside (center) lanes are now dedicated to light rail. The light rail line opened on June 14, 2014. [3]
An iron truss bridge was first built here in 1884, slightly upstream from the current location (connecting Washington Avenue on both sides of the river). At the time of construction, many people lived in the river flats area below, a neighborhood known as Bohemian Flats (See photo below). The bridge was strengthened in 1890 to accommodate streetcars, and it made up part of the first interurban line between Minneapolis and neighboring Saint Paul (see Twin City Rapid Transit). Streetcar service ended in 1954. Construction of the current bridge began in 1962 and the 1884 bridge was torn down in 1965. [4]
This first structure was a straight east-west bridge carrying Washington Avenue, which continued directly into downtown. The new bridge aimed the west end slightly to the south, so Washington Avenue is now disjointed at that point. Continuing straight along the roadway will carry a vehicle into downtown along a short freeway-like section that meets 3rd Street South (a one-way—returning involves traveling along 4th Street).
The top deck on the new bridge was originally just a flat space. Traversing the bridge in the harshness of winter was very uncomfortable, so an enclosure running down the center of the pedestrian area was added by the 1970s. Originally meant to be a heated indoor pedestrian area, due to energy cost concerns, the walkway is mostly unheated. There are some heaters inside that keep the area slightly warmer than outside, and some heat loss from the steam mains, but it can still dip below the freezing point. The structure also adds a windbreak for the top level, improving conditions for people who choose to walk outside. In the summer, large overhangs also provide some shade.
At least one designer had much grander plans. Winston Close, an adviser from the university to the architectural team, envisioned modeling the top level on the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy. This would have included shops, making the bridge a place to stay rather than just get across. [5] Some effort has been put into making the site a more inviting place. The addition of the upper deck enclosure led to an annual artistic event held on the first few days of classes, where organizations of all stripes can put their brushes to panels lining the interior. While most are self-promotional messages from campus groups, some of the panels always show impressive designs.
The exterior of the bridge had a rather drab combination of brown and gray for most of its existence. Some felt that it was off-balance in its university surroundings, especially after the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum went into place next to the east end in the 1990s. University President Mark Yudof led a "Take Pride in U" campaign in 1997 where the top level was painted in the school colors of maroon and gold. Later, in the first decade of the 2000s, the superstructure was also painted over the course of about two years. This had to be arranged with Hennepin County, which owns the bridge. It took a long time to repaint because the old paint contained lead and had to be carefully removed.
A darker facet of the bridge's history is its association with suicide. Poet and university professor John Berryman is the most famous person to have killed himself at the site, when he jumped from the bridge in 1972. About a half-dozen others have also died by landing in the river or on the flats area. [5]
In August 2008, concerns about the strength of the upper level led Hennepin County to restrict the pedestrian and bicycle traffic to a 14-foot-wide section in the center. Engineers had decided that in preparation for repairs, the weight needed to be moved to the center, where there was support from the columns below. [6] Usage of the upper deck continued to be restricted for about a year until repairs were complete.
The 1965 bridge was designed as a fracture-critical structure, meaning that it lacked redundancy in its design and could have collapsed if any single one of certain load-bearing members were to fail. Upgrades strengthened the bridge to help it carry the 106,000-pound (48,000 kg) rail vehicles and added redundancy so that the failure of a single bridge member would not cause a catastrophe. [7] The bridge was reduced to one lane in each direction in early 2011 as part of construction of the METRO Green Line and upper deck traffic has been shifted to one half of the bridge.
On 16 May 2011, Washington Avenue just east of the bridge was permanently closed to personal motor vehicle traffic. The roadway was converted into an exclusive use transit mall between Pleasant and Walnut Streets, so all eastbound lower-level traffic other than buses and emergency vehicles must exit to East River Parkway/Delaware Street and the only westbound access to the bridge for most cars will be from Pleasant Street Southeast. [3]
Historically, the Washington Avenue Bridge carried U.S. Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 52, but those highways were officially rerouted along nearby Interstate 94 in the 1980s. The roadway appears to have been briefly designated as Minnesota State Highway 12. The road corridor between Interstate 35W in the west and University Avenue in the east was soon designated as Minnesota State Highway 122, but that ended in 1997 when Hennepin County took over control of the roadway from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. [8]
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 vehicles a day on its two decks. It includes one of the longest bridge spans in the United States.
Route 139 is a state highway in Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States that heads east from the Pulaski Skyway over Tonnele Circle to the state line with New Jersey and New York in the Holland Tunnel, which is under the Hudson River, to New York City. The western portion of the route is a two level highway that is charted by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) as two separate roadways: The 1.45-mile (2.33 km) lower roadway (Route 139) between U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9) over Tonnele Circle and Interstate 78 (I-78) at Jersey Avenue, and the 0.83-mile (1.34 km) upper roadway running from County Route 501 and ending where it joins the lower highway as part of the 12th Street Viaduct, which ends at Jersey Avenue. The lower roadway is listed on the federal and NJ state registers of historic places since 2005. The eastern 1.32 miles (2.12 km) of the route includes the Holland Tunnel approach that runs concurrent with Interstate 78 on the one-way pair of 12th Street eastbound and 14th Street westbound. Including the concurrency, the total length of Route 139 is 2.77 miles (4.46 km).
The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic, and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. The bridge links the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District in the east to Old Town Chinatown neighborhood in the west.
Interstate 394 (I-394) is a short east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in Hennepin County in the US state of Minnesota. It is also commonly referred to by its pre-1991 name, Wayzata Boulevard, and by its other designation for most of its route, US Highway 12 (US 12). It runs for 9.8 miles (15.8 km) from downtown Minneapolis to I-494 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. At its western terminus, the roadway loses its Interstate designation but continues as US 12. I-394 serves as the most direct link for commuters and other drivers who are traveling between downtown Minneapolis and parts of the western Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.
The Third Lake Washington Bridge, officially the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, is a floating bridge in the Seattle metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Washington. It is one of the Interstate 90 floating bridges, carrying the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 across Lake Washington between Mercer Island and Seattle. The floating bridge is the fifth-longest of its kind in the world, at 5,811 feet.
A reversible lane is a managed lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and lighted street signs notifying drivers which lanes are open or closed to driving or turning.
The Hamilton Fish Newburgh–Beacon Bridge is a continuous truss toll bridge that spans the Hudson River in New York State. The bridge carries Interstate 84 (I-84) and New York State Route 52 (NY 52) between Newburgh and Beacon and consists of two separate spans. The original northern span, which now carries westbound traffic, was opened on November 2, 1963, as a two-lane bridge. A second span, completed in 1980, now carries all eastbound traffic. Still often referred to by its original name, the Newburgh–Beacon Bridge, in 1997 the bridge was rededicated in honor of Hamilton Fish III, a 12-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his son and namesake Hamilton Fish IV, a 13-term member of the House.
Minnesota State Highway 610 (MN 610) is an east–west freeway in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. The freeway connects Interstate 94 (I-94), County Road 81, and CR 130 in northern Hennepin County to U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) in southern Anoka County. MN 610 crosses the Mississippi River on the Richard P. Braun Bridge between suburban Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids. The highway is 12.3 miles (19.8 km) long.
The Midtown Greenway is a 5.7-mile (9.2 km) rail trail in Minneapolis, Minnesota that follows the path of an abandoned route of the Milwaukee Road railway. It is considered under segregated cycle facilities.
Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the US state of New York, I-95 extends 23.50 miles (37.82 km) from the George Washington Bridge in New York City to the Connecticut state line at Port Chester. The George Washington Bridge carries I-95 across the Hudson River from New Jersey into New York City. There, I-95 runs across Upper Manhattan on the Trans-Manhattan Expressway for 0.81 miles (1.30 km) through Washington Heights. It continues east across the Harlem River on the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and onto the Cross Bronx Expressway. In the Bronx, I-95 leaves the Cross Bronx at the Bruckner Interchange, joining the Bruckner Expressway to its end. North of the interchange with Pelham Parkway, it then continues northeast via the New England Thruway out of New York City into Westchester County and to the Connecticut state line, where I-95 continues on the Connecticut Turnpike.
The I-90 Mississippi River Bridge, or the Dresbach Bridge, consists of a pair of parallel bridges that traverse the Mississippi River, connecting the La Crosse, Wisconsin area to Dresbach in rural Winona County, Minnesota. The current bridge was fully opened to traffic in October 2016, replacing a previous 1967 plate girder bridge. It is part of the Interstate 90 route. There is another automobile crossing a few miles south of this bridge; the Mississippi River Bridge, a combination of two bridges, and the La Crosse West Channel Bridge, connecting La Crescent, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The Washington Bridge is a series of three bridges carrying Interstate 195, US Route 6, US Route 44, and U.S. Route 1A over the Seekonk River connecting India Point in Providence to Watchemoket Square in East Providence, Rhode Island. The historic portion of the bridge dating to 1930 serves as the pedestrian crossing, and bike link to the East Bay Bike Path. The pedestrian span is also a part of the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail. As of December 11, 2023, the westbound bridge is closed to all but emergency vehicles due to critical safety issues.
The Daniel Boone Bridge is the name for two bridges carrying Interstate 64, U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 61 across the Missouri River between St. Louis County and St. Charles County, Missouri. The older bridge, which carries westbound traffic, is a continuous truss bridge, while the newer bridge, which carries eastbound traffic, is a deck girder bridge.
The Mount Baker Tunnel or Mount Baker Ridge Tunnel carries Interstate 90 under the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is actually a group of three tubes that carry eight lanes of freeway traffic, plus a separate path for bicycles and pedestrians. The original tubes are twin tunnel bores completed in 1940 and rehabilitated in 1993. The new Mount Baker Tunnel was built north of the original tunnels and opened in June 1989. The tunnel has a double-decked roadway with the bicycle/pedestrian path above the traffic lanes.
U.S. Highway 52 (US 52) enters the state of Minnesota at the unincorporated community of Prosper, north of the town of Burr Oak, Iowa. The route is marked north–south in Minnesota along its independent segment from the Iowa state line to downtown St. Paul. US 52 is not signed along the length of its concurrency with Interstate 94 (I-94) from downtown St. Paul to the North Dakota state line at Moorhead and Fargo.
Hennepin County Road 122 (CR 122) or County State-Aid Highway 122 (CSAH 122) is an unsigned county state-aid highway within the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, crossing the Mississippi River on the Washington Avenue Bridge.
Cedar Avenue is a roadway that runs from Minneapolis to Northfield in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The roadway is known as Minnesota State Highway 77 in the busiest portion of the route, from Minneapolis to Apple Valley. The portions north and south of this are county roads, Hennepin County 152 and Dakota County 23, respectively. Its northern terminus in Minneapolis is at Washington Avenue in Cedar-Riverside, though its alignment is briefly interrupted by an interchange at Hiawatha Avenue to the south.