After donning some serious safety equipment, the media were allowed on site to see the reconstruction begin on a new 35W bridge. The most impressive work we got to see was an enormous drill that will plunge 100 feet into the ground to test what will become the foundation of the new bridge. With the rushed timeframe, everyone is stressing safety; normally a bridge like this takes 2-3 years, not 14 months. The crews will work 6 days a week, 20 hours a day; usually it's 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. I'm not sure if the spokesperson Peter Sanderson from Flatiron Construction was playing deadpan or was just annoyed with the press, but it was hard for us to get quotes out of him. One of my colleagues commented that at least he used three-word phrases instead of the usual one or two. It seems they are very cautious with a project of this importance. I've never had a "safety briefing" before heading to a construction site and warned of zero tolerance for horseplay. At least MnDOT's Jon Chiglo gave us a quote about this being "an important milestone." It's a milestone that's scheduled to complete next Christmas.
