Bridge deliberations

Dan Linehan
The Free Press

AMBOY May 07, 2008 10:35 pm

— The strategy: Get the officials together, give them some options, and then wait for a consensus to form. Oh, and the public gets to watch and chime in.
The meeting Wednesday to muddle through the issues surrounding the County Road 147 bridge near Amboy was part town hall gathering and part brainstorm session.
The bridge’s best use from a historic and cultural standpoint — staying where it is, as unchanged as possible — stands at odds with its best use from a transportation perspective — gone and replaced with a functional bridge.
Blue Earth County Engineer Al Forsberg emphasized the road’s potential use as a route for the implements, supplies and food that support the agricultural economy. He lacked hard figures to show how much the bridge would be used by farmers if it wasn’t off-limits to their heavy equipment, but said he was working on developing them.
Dennis Gimmestad, with the State Historic Preservation Office, was the adviser on the best ways to preserve the bridge, built in 1901.
He also questioned whether there was a need for a bridge here at all. If not, it could just be closed to all traffic and repaired only to keep from falling into the Blue Earth River.
Farmers have apparently adjusted to not being able to use it, he argued, so it might not be absolutely necessary.
Forsberg compared it with the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.
Twin Cities motorists have adjusted, but will still see a benefit when it returns.
Lynn Cole, a nearby farmer, told the group that he hauls grain to Amboy and a new bridge would keep him off Highway 30, to the north.
“I could use the back roads and be more safe,” he said.

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