VIRGINIA, Minn. -- The Minnesota Dept of Transportation's top choice for re-routing U.S. Highway 53 in the Iron Range will feature a high bridge spanning an abandoned mine pit.
After years of study MnDOT Tuesday announced its preferred alignment for the relocating the four-lane highway that serves as a vital link between the towns of Virginia, Eveleth, Mountain Iron and Gilbert.
The bridge is one of five alternatives the state has studied in partnership with local leaders, since learning that mining companies will exercise the option to expand into the land that Highway 53 now crosses.
The highway was built on land own by US Steel, and soon to be mined by Cleveland Cliffs Eveleth United Taconite. The state's 50-year lease gave the mining company the option to claim the land, and obliged MnDOT to vacate the highway when the lease expired.
The clock will run out in 2017.
"When I first heard this, when I became commissioner, I was like, you're kidding? Really? And yet it is standard practice the way lands and the mining industry has grown up in Minnesota," Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle told KARE.
But where to move it? On one side of the highway is the active Eveleth Taconite mine. On the other is the abandoned Rouchleau mining Pit filled with water, which serves as a water supply for the City of Virginia.
"We have a lot hard work ahead of us, and a lot challenges to overcome," Patrick Huston, MnDOT's project manager, told KARE.
Huston said all of the options had their share of challenges, including a longer bridge that would cross the Rouchleau Pit at a different location closer to Highway 53's existing alignment. That option, known as E-1A, would be three times longer, and involve sinking more piers into the old mine.
"And it's very important that we do this right. And as important as the schedule is, we need to make sure we're doing the right thing, and you heard the commissioner ask for public input."
MnDOT made used a panel of experts to evaluate all the options based on a wide range of considerations, without looking at cost. But the one picked is also among the most cost-effective alternatives that still maintains a link between those Iron Range cities.
The $220 million project will not only connect Virginia with other Iron Range cities, and preserve a vital link between Duluth and the Canadian border. It will be visually striking
"It's a really high bridge!" Zelle exclaimed, noting that the bridge deck will be taller than the one known as the High Bridge, the Blatnik in Duluth.
"As people are driving by it's not just the bridge itself, but it's what you see from the bridge that will be dramatic, the mining pit and the great views of the City of Virginia."
Some of the same views you can now get from a local tourist attraction known as Mine View in the Sky, a popular stop which will also go away when the Highway 53 is swallowed up by the mine.
Technically all of the options are still on the table, including the idea of state just buying the land under the highway and leaving the highway where it is. But the state would have to buy the mineral rights from the mining companies, and that's a very pricey proposition.
