An engineer’s rendering of a possible U.S. Highway 53 bridge across the Rouchleau Mine pit in Virginia, Minn. Tests this summer will determine if the bridge is viable option for relocating the highway. (PHOTO: MNDOT)
Iron Range residents will soon learn the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s final decision on the new route for Highway 53 between Eveleth and Virginia.
The Highway 53 route is likely to be announced in November, but a MNDOT official is quoted by WDIO saying that the most likely outcome will be one of the state’s highest bridges across the Rouchleau mine pit that drops off travelers somewhere near the Virginia Target store. I wrote about Highway 53 seriously here, and less seriously here.
Highway 53 is the Iron Range’s primary North-South highway, connecting Duluth to the Canadian border. A decades-old agreement between the state and mine owners, however, required the state to move the highway when iron mining activity nears the road. That day has come, and now the state is on the hook for a project costing tens of millions of dollars, that would add about 12 years to the life of United Taconite in Eveleth.
After several different ideas were floated, including bypassing Eveleth or trying to build a bridge over an active mine, the route running east of the mine dump between the two cities and across the pit emerged as a favorite. The new Highway 53 bridge could allow one of the most stunning views on the Iron Range, but become the most expensive public project of the decade.
It’s like Minnesota’s very own Bridge to Nowhere.
What would it cost to buy the mineral rights under the roadbed? It seems like a lot of taxpayer dollars to build a new road and huge bridge.
It would cost in excess of $1 billion.
Under the circumstances, a bridge across the pit is the best possible outcome for the parties most affected. The planning and construction should have begun sooner, however. By any measure the project is going to cost a lot of money. It could have been done for a lot less during the depths of the recession, when contractors were scrambling for work and the cost of borrowing money was effectively zero.