Stone Arch Bridge to be closed two years starting spring 2024

This last gasp of summer is going to be the final chance to catch some good weather on Minneapolis' Stone Arch Bridge for quite a while.

You wouldn't feel it from walking on it, but the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis has deteriorated mortar between its stone blocks that need replacing.

Starting next spring, the bridge will be closed for a reconstruction project expected to last through spring 2026 and cost the Minnesota Department of Transportation $22 million to $26 million.

MnDOT will close the east side of the bridge, near Father Hennepin Park and St. Anthony Main, for the first half of the project while workers scrape out old mortar and replace stones found to be in poor shape, said project manager Amber Blanchard. Then they'll reopen that side and close the western half of the bridge near Mill Ruins Park and Owamni.

It won't be possible to walk or bike the full length of the bridge the two years of construction, but visitors will still be able to get out to the halfway point.

The parallel Third Avenue Bridge, which has been closed for $129 million in repairs for the past two years, will reopen next month with a party. It'll then serve as the detour for commuters between downtown and the neighborhoods east of the river.

"That's one of the reasons why we didn't work on both bridges at the same time," Blanchard said. "So Third Avenue will be done, and the new accessibility for bikes and pedestrians on Third Avenue will be open and ready to go."

The 140-year-old Stone Arch Bridge carried passenger trains across St. Anthony Falls up until 1978. The Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority purchased it in 1989, and ownership transferred to MnDOT in 1992. The bridge sits within the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park, with the Minneapolis Park Board managing activities on its surface.

It's been through several rehabilitation projects over its lifespan, but in 2018 Park Board commissioners started sounding the alarm for new repairs.

Their appeal for millions of dollars to fix the Stone Arch Bridge got "very political" in the Legislature, with Minneapolis being accused of trying to take all the money that the state had in an account for railroad bridges, recalled Park Board lawyer Brian Rice at Wednesday's board meeting.

The Legislature allocated $5 million for Stone Arch Bridge repairs this year. MnDOT's $26 million budget is 80% federal, 20% state funding. Construction bids will open in November.

"This bridge is just the symbol of our city, a major piece of our transportation network. So I am so grateful to MnDOT for taking on this rehabilitation," said Park Board Commissioner Becky Alper.

She proposed waiving the fees that the Park Board would ordinarily charge construction projects that take over park land as an acknowledgement of MnDOT taking responsibility for a bridge that the Park Board and city of Minneapolis couldn't afford to maintain.

Every weekend the Stone Arch Bridge gets inundated with people walking to the Mill City Farmers Market, college students showing their parents around, buskers, scooter kids and couples taking engagement photos. When Bachelorette Michelle Young filmed her hometown scenes, the Stone Arch Bridge was the strongest local landmark that Minneapolis had to offer for a sense of place.

With the bridge being closed for the next two summers, Kevin Kurtt of the city's tourism agency Meet Minneapolis proposed these alternative attractions for family gatherings by the water, photo shoots and reality TV dating: