Old Cedar Bridge Replacement Funded!
Buried in all the coverage of the Minnesota transportation and bonding initiatives is the news that replacement of the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge in Bloomington has finally been funded!
The bonding bill contains $2 million to handle the replacement. The need to replace the bridge has been something of a problem, as the bridge exists in multiple jurisdictions, and goes through an environmentally sensitive area.
The bridge was closed in 2002 because it became structurally unsound, and had probably been so for some time at the time of closing. Without it, crossing the Minnesota River from the south metro takes some creativity on a bicycle, particularly to connect to places like the Mall of America transit station to execute a mixed commuting option (bike to train).
Yay!
I’m looking forward to using this crossing again to explore south of the river from our Bloomington home. There’s a lot of wildlife in that area and it would be a pleasant place to cross the river.