It looks a football field at times because of the 10 lanes and lack of traffic today.
The surface seemed to be a little coarse and rough for traction, but that should wear in quickly. Because it is comprised of concrete segments, there are few bumps that will probably be fine-tuned.
After working on bridge construction, the time frame (Decemeber/January or so start) was amazing even if there was minimum foundation preparation since it sits on good limestone.
The segements were cast on site in heated enclosures on a basic 24 hour scedule stating on a -20F day using concrete from a near-by ready-mix plant. I wonder how much of the $20 million bonus will be eaten up by the premiums and overtime to take advantage a the good summer weather that also helped.
True to the Minnesota tradition with two seasons (winter and construction), several lanes will be closed this week-end for fine-tuning and sealing. Some of the underside components are not coated yet and a low volume parkway under one end will open soon.
The MNDOT had a video camera set up to document the construction progress. This should be available on-line. Since I am local, I never saw it since I could always take a look in person and some photos. I was also able to take a couple of tours during construction as part of local professional organizations.
It is certainly a definite visual improvement and it should be interesting to follow the findings of the instrumentation. One thing that was interesting is that a de-icing system was installed, when the old after-thought system was one of the possible candidates of contribution to the loss of strength in the old steel bridge.
