HASTINGS, Minn. (KMSP) -
Highway 61 and the Hastings Bridge have reopened 18 hours earlier than expected.
Highway 61 closed the morning of Saturday, Sept. 22 for the float-in and lift of the main span of the new bridge over the Mississippi River.
The new four-lane bridge span and arch are massive, weighing in at 6.5 million pounds. Crews floated it on barges hundreds of feet downriver as they slowly put it into position while onlookers watched in anticipation.
Drivers won't be able to cross it until next spring, when the lanes open to traffic. The whole project won't be complete until 2014.
But the old Hastings Bridge is now open again.
