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Curtis Gilbert and Matt Sepic

Met Council offers bridge designs for controversial light rail span

Existing wooden railroad bridge
The existing wooden railroad bridge has six rows of wooden piers.
Courtesy Metropolitan Council

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The Metropolitan Council released three different bridge concepts for the Kenilworth channel crossing in Minneapolis Monday.

The bridges are part of the proposed Southwest Corridor light rail line between Target Field and Eden Prairie.

One of the spans would carry light rail trains and a bike trail over the narrow channel between Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. An adjacent bridge would carry freight rail traffic.

Project manager Mark Fuhrmann says the proposals include a span with steel piers, one with arched concrete supports, and another with angled concrete piers. He says they're all meant to echo the design of the existing wooden bridge.

"It's really the aesthetic, how they best fit into that Kenilworth channel environment," Fuhrmann said.

The concepts range in cost from $4 million to $7 million and are included in the project's nearly $1.7 billion dollar budget.

Opponents of the light rail project are suing in federal court in an effort to block it.

The nonprofit Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis argues in the suit that appropriate environmental review hasn't been conducted on the route through the Kenilworth Corridor — a popular recreation area.

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Steel Pier Concept
Steel Pier Concept: canted (angled) steel pier made of natural steel would support a concrete deck with natural steel railings that will weather in a couple of years to a warm brown patina. This concept would use natural steel to reinterpret the existing wooden railroad bridge. View is looking west with the Burnham Road Bridge in the background.
Courtesy Metropolitan Council
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Thin Deck Concept
Thin Deck Concept: canted (angled) concrete piers would support a thin deck of concrete with light steel railings. The thin deck lessens the visual impact of the bridge over the channel. The concept would use charcoal-tinted concrete to reinterpret the existing wooden railroad bridge. Both the arched pier and thin deck concepts would be made of cast-in-place concrete. View is looking west with the Burnham Road Bridge in the background.
Courtesy Metropolitan Council
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Arched Pier Concept
Arched Pier Concept: Concrete arched piers would support a concrete deck with steel railings, recalling the essence of the existing rail bridges of the Chain of Lakes area. View is looking west with the Burnham Road Bridge in the background.
Courtesy Metropolitan Council