The Minnesota Department of Transportation is planning to remove three dozen pieces of the old Interstate 35W bridge from the Minneapolis riverfront this morning.
Two flatbed trucks will haul bearings and other parts to a new storage building in Oakdale, said Kevin Gutknecht, the department's communications director. But most of the rusting green steel will remain on the Bohemian Flats parkland, which has been closed off since shortly after the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse.
The longer pieces, which won't fit on trucks, can't be cut because doing so might alter the evidence needed for the many lawsuits related to the disaster. This year, a judge refused to grant MnDOT legal protection to move such beams.
The first trials are expected to start in March 2011.
JIM FOTI
