Dartmouth Bridge

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Dartmouth Bridge
Dartmouth Bridge
A look at the Dartmouth Bridge from East River Road, looking west toward downtown Minneapolis.
Carries Ten lanes of Interstate 94
Crosses Mississippi River
Locale Minneapolis, Minnesota
Maintained by Minnesota Department of Transportation
ID number 9350
Design Six-span welded box girder
Longest span 340 feet
Total length 1001 feet
Width 141 feet
Clearance below 64 feet
AADT 167,000
Opening date 1964
Bridges of the Mississippi in downtown Minneapolis
Coordinates 44°57′58″N, 93°13′34″W

The Dartmouth Bridge is a box girder bridge that spans the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between the Cedar-Riverside area and the University of Minnesota campus area. It was built in 1964 and was designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas.

The bridge has an uninspired design when compared to other Mississippi River bridges in the vicinity. However, the bridge carries more vehicles than any other bridge in the state (167,000 vehicles daily),[1] on Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The 125-foot long, 148-ton box girders were fabricated in Gary, Indiana and transported up the Mississippi River by barge in October of 1963.

As of early August 2007, the bridge carried four lanes of traffic in each direction. One of these lanes on each side is used for an entrance/exit lane for Huron Boulevard (East Bank) and Riverside Avenue (West Bank). Following the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse, through traffic was detoured along a three mile stretch of I-94 including this bridge before turning north on Minnesota State Highway 280. To support the extra traffic volume, the deck surface was repainted in late August to temporarily carry five lanes in each direction including the auxiliary lanes.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2005 M.S.A.S. Traffic Volumes (pdf). MNDOT (2005). Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
  • Costello, Mary Charlotte (2002). Climbing the Mississippi River Bridge by Bridge, Volume Two: Minnesota. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications. ISBN 0-9644518-2-4.