Corps seeks comments on proposed improvements to St. Paul’s High Bridge

Corps seeks comments on proposed improvements to St. Paul’s High Bridge

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is accepting public comments on a Minnesota Department of Transportation permit application for work associated with improvements to the Trunk Highway 149 High Bridge in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Improvements would include replacing the bridge deck and post-tensioned cables, and repairing cracks in existing piers and deteriorated steel members on the arch. Dredging, filling and the placement of barges is also proposed in the river for construction access. Following the completion of construction barges would be removed from river, filled areas would be restored to pre-construction conditions and dredged areas would be restored to pre-construction conditions as allowable.

The public review and comment period on the draft plan ends March 12. Questions and comments concerning the project should be directed to Benjamin Cox, project manager, by phone at 651-290-5377, or by email at [email protected]. Written correspondence may also be mailed to: St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention: Benjamin Cox, 180 5th St. E., Suite 700, St. Paul, MN 55101-1678.

The draft plan can be viewed and downloaded from the St. Paul District website at: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx.

The request will be evaluated by the Corps under the authority of Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. Section 408). This request concerns dredging, filling and barge traffic in or near the navigation channel, and does not apply to work currently being done at the site.

The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the St. Paul District Fiscal Year 2016 $78 million budget, nearly 1,250 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $120 million to the national economy. For more information, see http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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Let me get this straight. . .

They started work on this bridge back in September. The DOT website states: “Please be aware that there will be a barge and likely a tugboat out on the river. This should not impede passage of river traffic.”

Note the bold words above. “Will be” — so all along they have planned to use barges below the bridge, but just now in February they’re getting around to requesting permission from the USACE to mess with the shipping channel? And “should not impede?” Wouldn’t the corps reject any proposal they thought would negatively impact the channel?

If the Corps determines that the usefulness of the authorized project would be impaired, the request will be denied.

(the authorized project = the shipping channel)

Freakin great, the one flathead spot I found last year can’t even fish this year and probably will change

Construction sucks, but is needed. Hope all goes well with process.

Was also wondering if the dredge/fill plans could have any impact on the walleye run? But of course they don’t give any timing details, and the PDF “draft plan” on the corps website is a broken link. Shocking stuff.