Hastings bridge closure rescheduled — again

There has been another change of plans for the Hastings bridge closure, which had been scheduled for this week.

As of Friday, the main span is expected to be moved sometime next weekend, meaning the Highway 61 bridge will close on or around Sept. 22 through Sept. 24.

River traffic will be suspended around this time as well.

When asked about the delay from last week's scheduled closure to this week's scheduled closure, MnDOT's Kirsten Klein said in an email that "the scale and magnitude of the process requires them to be very diligent and tedious with all of the checks they go through."

In an email update sent out by MnDOT today, the delay was explained like this: "We've had to postpone the actual float-in again because we want to make absolute certain that each of the intricate details is accounted for on this historic move. We now plan to float in the new span next week."

There had been a Sept. 15 deadline to get the main span moved in place. This new timeframe obviously doesn't hit that deadline.

On Monday, Hastings bridge project manager Steve Kordosky told Minnesota Public Radio that the bridge would likely close down at 8:30 a.m. on Friday rather than on Wednesday, when the closure was originally scheduled to begin.

But when the Star Gazette contacted the Hastings Police Department about the change from Wednesday to Friday and asked about the HPD’s plans for the weekend closure, police said they are now preparing for a mid-week closure next week, instead.

Apparently the plan changed over the last weekend and then changed again Friday.

Tags: mississippi river, news, minnesota, traffic