Oliver Bridge To Close For The Summer Construction Season

People who take the Oliver bridge daily are going to have to find alternative travel routes very soon. Canadian National Railway (CN) will be starting a multi-year maintenance and strengthening plan on the Oliver bridge that connects Duluth, Minnesota and Oliver, Wisconsin.

The bridge work will make for daytime closures of the roadway underneath the rail bridge connecting Wisconsin Highway Highway 105 and Minnesota Highway 39. The highway part of the bridge will be closed off to traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday from April 27th and could go into November.

The CN also expects to have two extended road closures to accommodate span replacements on each end of the bridge.

The bridge will be open certain days for local events and holidays including:

·         Friday, May 27, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for Memorial Day traffic
·         Monday, May 31, 2016 – Road open all day for Memorial Day
·         Friday, June 17, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for Grandma’s Marathon 
·         Friday, July 1, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for 4th of July traffic
·         Monday, July 4, 2016 – Road open all day for 4th of July
·         Thursday, August 11, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for Blue’s Fest traffic
·         Friday, August 12, 2016 – Road open all day for Blue’s Fest
·         Thursday, August 18, 2016 – Road open all day for Tall Ships
·         Friday, August 19, 2016 – Road open all day for Tall Ships
·         Friday, September 2, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for Labor Day traffic
·         Monday, September 5, 2016 – Road open for Labor Day
·         Friday, September 16, 2016 – Road open at 12:00 (noon) for In Line Marathon 
The multi-year work on the bridge will include full replacement of two 90-foot spans at both the east and west ends of the bridge, steel strengthening of 30 bridge spans, and upgrades to the bridge deck and rail.