Oliver Bridge Closures Scheduled For October

It's routine, it's planned, but it can also catch you by surprise.  Another seasonal round of closures are planned for the Oliver Bridge - the span that crosses the St. Louis River at the junction of Minnesota Highway 39 and Wisconsin Highway 105.  The closures are tied to the annual inspections that happen usually at least once a year.

Officials with the Minnesota Department of Transportation have released the news about the upcoming closures on behalf of the CN Railway.  The Oliver Bridge is owned and maintained by CN Railway, with train traffic on the upper tracks and vehicular highway traffic on the deck below.

CN Railway plans to have changeable message signs in place by September 30 to alert drivers to the upcoming closures.  The signs will remain in place until the inspection is over and all of the work is complete.

According to the details released right now, the closures will occur on two different days and will only affect traffic during the daytime hours.  Here are the dates involved with the Oliver Bridge closure:

• Wednesday, October 6 - 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
• Thursday, October 7 - 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

The information MNDOT shared concerning the daytime closures suggests that "the bridge will not close until 8:30 AM each day"; the survey crews have upheld this start time in years past, too in an effort to maintain that morning work commute traffic will be able to cross the St. Louis River, and drivers who utilize the Oliver Bridge can plan on when it will be open and when it will close.  Likewise, the details report that "the bridge will be re-opened to traffic by 4:30 PM each day".

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For more details on this road work and any of the projects coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, click here to visit their 511mn.org website.