The I-35W Bridge has reopened.

[Spinning Hat]

I'm sure many of you saw on the news that construction on the new I-35W bridge has completed, and it is now open to traffic. Because of my work schedule, I haven't been able to see much of the news coverage, and only hear about it second hand from my wife.

Well, it opened Thursday morning, and I got a chance this morning to drive over it with minimal traffic, so I got to slow down a bit, and take it in, and really look at the bridge. First impression: It's a very nice bridge. It's wider, and smooth, and all in all is amazing to look at and drive on considering 10 months prior there was nothing there but a gaping chasm of what used to be, and what appeared to be an insurmountable goal, and that was to have the bridge completed inside of 12 months from when the first work began. The laborers numbered in the hundreds, working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Here's a nice NY Times article about the bridge. Here's the Official MnDOT site.

I have to admit, it was an uplifting, but eerie and sad experience at the same time. I've never been so confused about how I felt at one moment in my life. I used to drive on the original bridge every day, twice a day for over 3 years, and it was a familiar and normal part of the city for me. Before then, I had been on it hundreds of times, and never thought what happened could happen. I know it's a new structure, and it's as safe as any bride in America could be, but I think it will always be a sad place for Minnesota, and all Minnesotans. Over the last year, there were always periodic updates on construction, and when they would make a major milestone in construction, and I never really felt anything about it, it always came across as another news item, and didn't really affect me. Driving across it did today, and I hope that I never forget what happened there, and how I felt the first time driving over the new bridge.

EDIT: Here's a Wikipedia article about the bridge, and the events surrounding its destruction and rebuilding.

[XMEN Iceman]

I can imagine that it is pretty eerie. Amazing how quickly they got it up, but it is a major throughfare.