Neighbors of the viaduct bridge say they know the bridge replacement that starts Monday has to be done, but businesses in the area are still worried about how their customers will find them once roads are closed and how the noise will affect them.

Friday, February 15, 2002

Neighbors of the viaduct bridge say they know the bridge replacement that starts Monday has to be done, but businesses in the area are still worried about how their customers will find them once roads are closed and how the noise will affect them.

According to Bruce Reihl, the overall supervisor of the bridge part of the project, the demolition work will begin soon after the road closes, possibly even by Wednesday. Workers employed by Lunda Construction Co., the main contractor for the job, will be using a wrecking ball and a hydraulic breaker that resembles a giant jackhammer to break up the road bed, and cutting torches and special hydraulic shears to cut through the steel braces. Much of the bridge will be lifted away by cranes once it has been cut up, and the rubble from the concrete portions of the bridge will be loaded onto dump trucks and carried away, he said.

While all of that is certain to cause increased levels of noise and dust, the the most noise will come later, when they start driving the pilings for the new bridge. Everyone in town should hear that, Reihl said.

Gwen Reiss, owner of the Turtle Dove Tea House, is concerned about noise, and about how customers are supposed to be able to get to the Tea House. Her business is located on the frontage road on the north side of the bridge and she doesn’t know if the city or state is putting up signs to show motorists where businesses are located.

&uot;What’s to be done about parking?&uot; Reiss said. &uot;And will handicapped customers still be able to use the sidewalk?&uot;

Most of her business is in the middle of the day, from lunch through afternoon coffee or tea. And the construction crews will be working from 7 a.m. until the evening each day.

One sign of the impact of the project on her business is that she’s gotten no reservations for wedding receptions or dinners for the whole time the project is being completed.

But Reiss is mostly concerned about potential damage to her house from all of the demolition and construction work. The building is 122 years old, and much of it is still original. She’s talked to her own insurance company, but still wonders who will be ultimately liable for any damages to the structure from ground vibration.

Reiss also wonders if an opportunity hasn’t been lost. She thinks that the city could have played a larger role in the project.

&uot;If the city wants, they can pick decorative lighting for the new bridge, and they can pick colors for the decorative elements of the bridge itself,&uot; Reiss said. She cited the examples of Rochester and St. Paul as MnDOT projects where bridges were adapted to fit the communities. Reiss sees the new bridge as an opportunity to make the whole area more attractive.

According to the city engineer’s office, those changes would have come completely at city expense, and so they decided not to pursue them.

Curtis Smith and Deane Christianson, co-owners of Arrow Printing, right next door to Reiss’s Tea House, are comfortable with how they’ve been kept informed by the city and MnDOT. They worry mainly about how their customers will find them, since a lot of their business is walk in.

Smith said they didn’t worry about it as much when the construction plans were first announced, because he was just leasing the building. Now that they’ve purchased it, he’s been paying more attention to what streets are going to be closed and where the detour runs.

&uot;We’re glad they’re putting the new bridge in. We’re just trying to reach our customers, to let them know we’re open for business and how to find us,&uot; Smith said. Arrow Printing is including directions in their advertising now.

Next door, Reiss isn’t just thinking about the negative impact of the project. She also sees an opportunity for a different kind of lunch trade. She plans on finding out what the work crews would like to eat, and possibly offer those items for ‘al fresco’ or outdoor eating. She’s got an ex-U.S. Navy cook in her kitchen who can prepare just about anything, she said.