Note—This is not the I-35W bridge that collapsed. Click here for complete coverage of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge disaster.

Claim to fame: MN-DOT had to build temporary dikes in the outside lanes of the freeway to keep the south bridge approach from being swamped during the 2001 flood.

Upper (4) photos are of the new I-35W bridge over the Minnesota river. The lower photo is the location of the old Lyndale Ave bridge across the Minnesota River. That bridge was removed when the new Interstate highway was built in the 1960's.

When this bridge was constructed, I-35W extended south only as far as MN-13. Locals called this the bridge to nowhere. By 1980, Burnsville had become a major shopping, light industrial, and bedroom community. Traffic jams over the I-35W river bridge became monumental.

The I-35W bridge was built with 4 lanes, 2 in each direction. The bridge was redecked and 2 additional lanes were added in 1984. After the 1984 project was completed, a sub-soil problem was discovered. As a result, one lane in each direction remained closed for many years after they were built. The problem was addressed in the mid-1990s, and the 3rd lane in each direction was opened as one of two metro area HOV projects.

While the bridge itself is not in danger of flooding, the causeway on the south end is prone to flooding. The highway was fully under water in the 1965 flood. After being raised a few feet, the highway has not flooded since, but MN-DOT has had to build temporary dikes along the causeway on several occasions. The last of which was the 2001 flood. A row of gravel was laid down. Plastic was put down covering the gravel, and sandbags were used to keep the plastic in place.

There is a large hill on the north end of the bridge. Northbound traffic tends to slow down going up that hill, especially trucks. On the southbound side, people see the bridge in the distance as they drive down the hill, and they tend to get scared and slow down. Making the situation worse is that the bridge makes a big hump, so you cannot see traffic from one end of the bridge to the other. The result is that I-35W traffic jams often start at this bridge.