New bridge propsal

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/117169693.html

Any idea why the feds think this project would be a detriment to the river?

I need to read the article but there are many who appose a bridge. Stillwater and WI want the feds to pay for a new bridge seeing as it’s a Federal waterway. I also heard rumors of a $6.00 (one way) charge just to cross the bridge to help pay for it. I better read the article before I go to far here……..

What a surprise. Another bleeding heart trying to prevent building a new Stillwater Bridge. Wonder how much money the Sierra Club has donated to McCollum?

It would be nice to know what the concerns are before making generalizations.

I for one could care less about making it easier to commute to Wisconsin, especially if it is going to have a negative effect on the fishery.

My feelings on it are just like a new stadium…let the people who want it and will use it PAY FOR IT, but leave the rest of us alone. If that means 20,000 commuters from Wisconsin that come to work in the metro everyday, or 100 guys from the burbs that cross over to the stripbars every Friday night then so be it.

Here’s a report from the NPS on the bridge project.

Report

They evaluated and concluded on 4 criteria:

1 – Free-flowing nature of the river. Conclusion: no permanent adverse affect, although it will reduce the channel by 5% and reduce the flood carry capacity.

2 – Water quality. Conclusion: no permanent adverse affect, although there could be detrimental short term affects from spills and high runoff events.

3 – Scenic value. Conclusion: permanent adverse affect, for obvious reasons.

4 – Recreational value. Conclusion: permanent adverse affect, due to the scenic value and added noise.

The proposed bridge runs right over one of my favorite trolling runs on the river, and I have to admit that after launching at the boomsite and hitting this area at sunup, it is kinda relaxing right now without a major freeway above. Don’t mis-interpret that statement as me being anti-bridge though. I do like that one of the mitigating proposals is a new public launch in this area as it is sorely needed.

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I for one could care less about making it easier to commute to Wisconsin, especially if it is going to have a negative effect on the fishery.

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Do you commute from MN to WI (or vice versa) daily ?

I see no negative affect on the fishery at all. There’s already a bridge, many of them on St.Croix that dont affect the fishery, how will another When Prescott built a new bridge it did not affect the fishery

Tell the truth Jesse, another bridge means another picture of you and a big fish

$700,000,000 to make it easier for WI residents to come to MN and work then take money back to WI and spend it!!!

You chose to live in WI and commute across the river to work everyday!! Not my problem, get a bigger thermos for your coffee!

no new bridge it will be best to keep the walker fans in wis.

Jesse,
I couldn’t agree more with your comments about the bridges affecting fishing.

As for the new Stillwater bridge, maybe I should change my mind and agree with the peanut gallery from Isanti and drinking cold budwieser that we don’t need a new bridge. I’ll just wait for light rail to make it to Hudson.

I have lived in Stillwater my whole life. Im sure things look just fine from isanti, if you feel we dont need a bridge try to drive through downtown in the summer. The traffic is insane! Its not just wisconsin residents its tourists.

Get rid of all those quaint little shops and maybe those tourists will go away. My town needs a new interchange on the highway and a new firetruck….I don’t suppose you want to help pay for it?

thanks for the info D-Train!

Where you from ou812? I’m guessing we can find a few red herrings (thanks Pug) in your area I don’t want to pay for either.

I must live a sheltered life, could someone please tell me what a “Red Herring” is so I can tell you if I want you to help pay for it?

Off target here a little. The bridge will affect fishing, temporarily. That area will be affected permanently. Harm on the fishery? No. Inconvenience a trolling pattern, yeah. Make new fishing spots? yes. New Public access, good! Spending 700 mil on something we dont absolutely need right now with our state being broke is not a good idea.

I have lived in Richfield, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Mounds View and now reside in Isanti. I hate Budweiser.

You will have a hard time getting sympathy from me or anyone regarding your little traffic jam in stillwater. Try 35w north out of dakota county. 494 E or W around Bloomington. 10 through coon rapids, 35 through arden hills, 394? 94? 169 and 494. Stillwater in the summer? not a priority.

This is interesting. Everyone seems to agree we need to control government spending and cut wasteful projects. UNLESS it benefits me directly…..then we are all for it. How is this ever going to work.

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I must live a sheltered life, could someone please tell me what a “Red Herring” is so I can tell you if I want you to help pay for it?

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Good question.. I guess I didn’t know what it meant either. I just keep seeing Pug use it in his posts. After checking, it looks like I used it out of context.

Red Herring – A smoked herring having a reddish color.

Speaking of Adverse affects on the River or Air, think about how much Pollution is caused by the thousands of gas sitting there idling all summer long waitng to cross the River in either direction. Do not all these cars and trucks idling have an adverse affect on the air and water?, No to mention peoples tempers.

How about during Flood Stage, does this not have an adverse affect on the river when the water levels wate all kinds of crap from the Lift Bridge into the River?

Will a new Bridge breakup the Scenic Views? IMHO, NO, It running right past the King Plant, much more industrial than Scenic in my mind.

As far as the Toll Proposal, I could go either way, Yes, I say let users pay for it. FYI: THe $6 Toll proposed would be a 1-way Toll, meaning you only pay going one-direction, No toll coming back agin.
But, if we are going to do that, shall we make ALL BRIDGES ((I-35W dntn Mpls, I-35W Bloomington/Burnsville, I-94 Dntn Mpls, I-94 Brooklyn Park, I-35E StPaul/Lilydale, TH55 FortSnelling/MendotaHeights, TH5 FortSnelling/StPaul, Cedar Ave Eagan/Bloomington, I-494 Bloomington/Eagan, 169 Bloomington/Shakopee, 169 Anoka, I-94 Lakeland/Hudson, TH10 Hastings/Prescott, TH63 Redwing, TH8 Taylor Falls/St.Croix Falls, TH610, TH101 ElkRiver, etc. etc.) and how about making all FREEWAYS TOLL ROADS? (A side note to the Toll Proposals is the Fact that the current Gas Tax Rates are not keeping up with rebuilding/maintaining what we already have since Gas prices shot up a few years ago and vehicles have become more efficient. Within the next 10-15 years we will have to switch to another form of paying for Construction and maintenance of our Transportstion System.)

While we are at it, shall we include all boat Launches TOLL Based?

I personally support Bachmans proposal , let’s just get the Bridge built, get the Sierra Club and National Park Service out of the Picture. I would propose an amendment to her proposal to remove the Lower St. Croix from Stillwater to Prescott from the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

It is not just commuters, there is Tons of freight coming across, people on trips, etc. Now, that said, I do not like the Bridge Style proposed, I believe a Tied Arch (like the new Hastings Bridge) or Cable Stayed would look much better for that location, adding more grace and character and probably could be built for not much more costly and maybe a lower cost than what was proposed.

Carroll

PS: I do have a personal interest in all of this as I work for a large Civil Engineering Consulting Firm.

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I must live a sheltered life, could someone please tell me what a “Red Herring” is so I can tell you if I want you to help pay for it?

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Good question.. I guess I didn’t know what it meant either. I just keep seeing Pug use it in his posts. After checking, it looks like I used it out of context.

Red Herring – A smoked herring having a reddish color.

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Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance

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Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance

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Mike,
I think I still used the term out of context.

The point I was trying to make is that it is easy for someone that doesn’t live or travel across the St Croix River to say they shouldn’t have to help pay for a bridge that isn’t needed. Regardless of where you live, I could point to many infrastructure projects that I don’t want to pay for either.

BTW, I rarely cross the Stillwater bridge. I use the I94 bridges. I94 has to be one of the 2 biggest interstates into and out of the Twin Cities. If something were to happen that shuts down those bridges, the other bridges that cross the river (Prescott, Stillwater, Taylors Falls) don’t have the capacity to handle the traffic. The traffic isn’t just people commuting to work.

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I must live a sheltered life, could someone please tell me what a “Red Herring” is so I can tell you if I want you to help pay for it?

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Good question.. I guess I didn’t know what it meant either. I just keep seeing Pug use it in his posts. After checking, it looks like I used it out of context.

Red Herring – A smoked herring having a reddish color.

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Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance

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I think I get it now; it’s like when we all start fighting over politics and religion and then BK comes in and says something funny to get us all loving one another again, right? Personally I think they should have called it pickled herring instead of red herring, but that’s just me.

If you dont think Stillwater neesds a new bridge have you ever seen that rusty eye sore that sits there now? If a boat comes thru in the summer downtown is congested for an hour. I personally know people that won’t visit Stillwater due to the congestion .

P.S. I spend just as much if not more of my MN earned money in MN than I do in WI so statements like that are neither here nor there and make little to no sense on the topic at hand at all.

I believe it wont be just MN paying for the bridge, the cost will be split between the 2. I currently stand behind Stillwaters mayor on the issue and am quite glad he is looking to sue to get a new bridge in. There is more than just traffic issues at hand with the current bridge #1 being safety and the current bridge is a HUGE hazzard. If the bridge were to ever fail I would hope that no one gets hurt.

Great post Brian!

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Off target here a little. The bridge will affect fishing, temporarily. That area will be affected permanently. Harm on the fishery? No. Inconvenience a trolling pattern, yeah. Make new fishing spots? yes. New Public access, good! Spending 700 mil on something we dont absolutely need right now with our state being broke is not a good idea.

I have lived in Richfield, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Mounds View and now reside in Isanti. I hate Budweiser.

You will have a hard time getting sympathy from me or anyone regarding your little traffic jam in stillwater. Try 35w north out of dakota county. 494 E or W around Bloomington. 10 through coon rapids, 35 through arden hills, 394? 94? 169 and 494. Stillwater in the summer? not a priority.

This is interesting. Everyone seems to agree we need to control government spending and cut wasteful projects. UNLESS it benefits me directly…..then we are all for it. How is this ever going to work.

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20 years of this debate over millions of dollars for a new bridge….. has anyone seen the trafic in stillwater during the morning hours? there is non going in to stillwater, however its backed up in WI for miles. its a bunch of WI residents wining about their long commute to MN in the morning. deal with it, if you dont like a long commute to MN than move or get a differnt job! there are a lot of people out there who have a lot longer commute, in fact the traffic in MSP is way worse so should we just widen 94 to 10 lanes…..NO thats not how it works. if you plan geting a job with a long commute you should consider that before just taking it. the st croix is a national senic water rute that is protected for many aesthetic and biological reasons. the thought of a another massive bridge over the st croix makes me sick. oh and the people that think the stillwater bridge is unsafe, drive around it! there are a lot of educated engeeers who have a close eye on that bridge and if it was that unsafe, they would not let you drive on it.

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oh and the people that think the stillwater bridge is unsafe, drive around it! there are a lot of educated engeeers who have a close eye on that bridge and if it was that unsafe, they would not let you drive on it.

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Are these the same educated engineers that had their eye on the 35W bridge.

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the st croix is a national senic water rute that is protected for many aesthetic and biological reasons. the thought of a another massive bridge over the st croix makes me sick.

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I bet it must drive you nuts every time you look at the King Plant smoke stack. How can you live with yourself when you see all those huge tuna boats on the weekend polluting our scenic riverway? Why don’t they try to convince Anderson Windows to move their plant too. That is a freaking eye sore.

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P.S. I spend just as much if not more of my MN earned money in MN than I do in WI so statements like that are neither here nor there and make little to no sense on the topic at hand at all.

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I dont want to argue with you where you spend your money. But, I know that if I tried to double (and then some) my spending after paying the MN companies that I rely on to live every month, I’d be broke. So, I am questioning your statement. You must do well for yourself.

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If you dont think Stillwater neesds a new bridge have you ever seen that rusty eye sore that sits there now? If a boat comes thru in the summer downtown is congested for an hour. I personally know people that won’t visit Stillwater due to the congestion .

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So what is the big push for the new bridge? You are telling me its rusty eye sore (so is my truck), there are traffic jams, and you know people who wont visit Stillwater because of the traffic. Well, there is rust all over this state, traffic jams alike. Apparently Stillwater does ok (as evident by the traffic jams). So we need to promote MORE people into Stillwater? I bet the mayor loves that idea, I bet he is bummed you cant vote for him!!

Yes there will be 2 BROKE states paying for this bridge. my point is still the same.

I wonder what the taxpayers in Milwaukee think about this bridge?