Blatnik Bridge Construction Postponed Due To Bong Bridge Closure

A lot of people scratched their heads yesterday over the logic of scheduling bridge repair on the Blatnik Bridge only two days after the Bong Bridge's westbound lanes closed as part of a two year project.  The Blatnik Bridge was the posted detour for the vehicles that usually use the Bong Bridge.  Traffic backed up considerably and major delays happened during the late morning and midday time period.

Now, it looks like MNDOT officials are reconsidering their plans for the Blatnik Bridge.

“We had scheduled the work on the Blatnik Bridge this week as part of our summer bridge maintenance plan,” said District Engineer Duane Hill. “We had to close one lane on the bridge to ensure a safe work area. We discovered that reducing the traffic lanes on Blatnik caused a significant traffic backup. We stopped our work and will reschedule it.”

At this time, no official date has been announced for the rescheduled work.