After decades of effort, overpass is a reality
News | Published on October 24, 2022 at 12:20pm CDT
By Tim Douglass
It’s been a long time coming, but the Highway 29 overpass is nearly complete and as long as the weather cooperates the bridge is on schedule to open Friday, Oct. 28.
Although the actual construction took two construction seasons, local and state officials spent more than a decade planning and working toward a viable project that would add safety measures by eliminating the Canadian Pacific Railway crossing on Highway 29, as well as the intersection of Highway 55.
On Monday, Oct. 17, MnDOT hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Glenwood to mark the first car to drive over the new bridge. The event was attended by leadership and staff from MnDOT, Pope County and Glenwood, as well as local and state elected officials, and several businesses from within the work zone. It was a celebration of the local advocacy that made this project happen.
“It’s been a long time coming and we really look forward to getting this project completed,” said MnDOT District 4 Engineer Shiloh Wahl, who emceed a ceremony at the Pope County Highway Department before the ribbon cutting on the overpass. Wahl said he first became aware of the project years ago when he was approached by Pope County Commissioner Gordy Wagner about the train delays on Highway 29 and the impact that had on safety and the overall health of the community. He said 10 or 15 or even 20 minutes was “a long time to wait at a train crossing.”
Wahl said that without the constant local effort for a project, “we would not be here today.”
Once MnDot designed a solution (an overpass) “it really just came down to funding.”
He and Wagner credited Rep. Paul Anderson and Sen. Torrey Westrom for securing that funding at the state level by getting about $10 million for the project included in a bonding bill. “That secured the funding and we’re here today” to celebrate the project that has taken two years to construct, Wahl said.
Wahl also credited Dan Kuhn, MnDOT Bridge Engineer, and thanked Schroeder Construction Inc. for their quality work. He also thanked Canadian Pacific Railway for their input and help with the project.
“I just want to thank all who had a hand in the project,” Wahl said before introducing Wagner who spoke first to about 30 local residents who were invited to the event. “There are about 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles on that highway per day so this will be a huge benefit,” Wahl added.
‘It’s a big deal’
Wagner started his talk by stating that the overpass project being completed this fall “is a big deal.”
He reminded those at the ceremony of the significance to “all those who will benefit from this project.” He also talked about how many area residents have waited a long time for the changes. He specifically said the Glenwood ambulance personnel, law enforcement and the fire department will no longer have the decades-long worry of a train blocking the highway when there is a crash just north of the tracks, “or a (vehicle) collision at the intersection or with a train on a foggy night.”
Wagner told the story of one elderly area resident who told him “I just want to live long enough to drive across on that bridge.”
He also told the story of when his brother, Bruce Wagner, in 1966 arrived at the family home in Lowry looking visibly shook up. “Our mother asked what was wrong” and we found out he had come upon a horrific accident at the intersection of Highway 55 and 29 where two 19-year-old girls were killed. “It was traumatic for him, because he was only 19 at the time,” Wagner said of his brother’s experience.
Wagner thanked Rep. Paul Anderson and Sen. Torrey Westrom for carrying the bill in the legislature and ultimately getting more than $10 million earmarked for the project in the bonding bill that passed both the Minnesota House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Mark Dayton. He finished by addressing Anderson, who was at the event: “Yesterday, Paul, you were a Republican and I was a Democrat. Tomorrow, you’ll be a Republican and I’ll be a Democrat. But today, were both Minnesotans proud to be public servants.”
‘A wonderful, historic project’
Rep. Paul Anderson followed Wagner to the podium and said he was honored to be celebrating the “wonderful and historic” project and credited its completion to a lot of hard work and commitment. “When there are a lot of local people working together, good things happen,” Anderson stated. He added that state bonding bills can be political but emphasized that the local commitment that made the difference.
He thanked the Minnesota House Capital Investment committee led by Rep. Dean Urdahl for answering Anderson’s request for the committee to visit Glenwood and meet with local officials, which led to the project funding being included in the bonding bill. He also stated there were concerns that the $10-11 million in that bonding bill would not be enough to complete this project, but added that MnDOT officials, along with the fact that the bridge work was going to be done by a local bridge company–Schroeder Construction, Inc.–made it work.
“Congratulations on getting this project done and getting this road open again,” he told local and MnDOT officials.
Working together to build bridges
Senator Torrey Westrom said he was honored to be at the event and “see the project that can be made when we all work together.” He said the project first came to his attention at a town meeting he and Anderson held and, as a state senator, he said it was the first project he “got behind” as an author of the funding bill.
“And it came about at a town meeting about 10 years ago,” he said, and shows how important those meetings are in providing a forum for local officials to bring up their concerns
“It also shows how patience with persistence can get us to where we are today (celebrating the completion of the overpass project).”
He credited local emergency response personnel, county and local officials for their persistence and said he was proud to bring their voice to the capitol.
He said the project required patience as well, but said the project is apropos to what’s happening in the state.
“Farmers, businesses all need infrastructure to get their products to market and this project not only represents the state’s highways, but its bridges and rail as well.” He said he sees this project as making progress to “keeping up the speed of living in our state today,” stating that it was an honor to be part of that and “building something that represents a crossroads of our state and country.”
“It can take time and patience, but we get things done for our children and our future. It’s an honor to be here celebrating something that came out of a town meeting 10 years ago and it is an example of how we can actually build bridges if we all work together,” Westrom said.
