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StoneArchBridgelinks river banks, downtown

Linda Mack; Staff Writer

Publication Date: October 30, 1994 Page: 01F Section: ENTERTAINMENT Edition: METRO

Since it closed to trains in 1978, the StoneArchBridgehas

been a rocky pile of unrealized potential.

Monday that potential will begin to be released when the

111-year-oldbridgereopens to link east and west banks of the

Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. Instead of carrying the

steam engines that opened the Northwest to settlement, thosepowerful stonearcheswill carry a lighter load of pedestrians,

bikers, joggers and, in the near future, a rubber-wheeled trolley

looping from the Minneapolis Convention Center to the riverfront.

To make this transformation, the historical purity of the

landmarkbridgehad to be violated. But it was modified with alight enough hand that it still feels euphoric to venture out on thebridge.

Rust-colored railings on each side will keep people fromfalling into the river 50 feet below. The rails are high enough for

safety, but not so high they feel like prison bars. Rust-colored

light fixtures also were added. They're a pleasing industrial shape

(unlike the pink Victorian lampposts outside the nearby WhitneyHotel), and they're so delicate they can hardly be seen from a block

away. Thebridge's steel truss, which was added in 1962 to let

barges from the new lock and dam pass underneath, was also painted

rust-brown.

The surface was paved, with sidewalks and a blacktop roadway

(which will have a chipped-aggregate surface next spring) for bikesand the slow-speed riverfront trolley, which will run every hour

from points downtown. It looks finished, but not overly refined.

The blacktop connects to the West River Pkwy. on the downtown side

and to the Father Hennepin Park and Main St. and 6th Av. SE. on theeast end. Near the University of Minnesota steam plant, newly

quarried limestone blocks edging the path look just like the

rough-cut old ones lining thebridge.

Structural renovation was handled delicately, too. The 21 stone

archeswere power-washed and tuck-pointed, but they look just aswonderfully gritty as before. Earlier concrete reinforcing was

checked, and the waterproofing of the arch-tops was done the

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calls "the buckle on the belt." They could, in turn, combine with

the Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the only indoor lookout spot

on the river.

The fate of the university's steam plant, smack dab at the east

end of thebridge, is a more difficult issue, because coal-burningand heavy truck traffic don't mix well with baby buggies andbikes.

Other industrial blights, from NSP's Erector-set high-voltagetowers to the Army Corps' chain-link fence along the lock, look even

uglier now that thebridgehas been spiffed up. Riverfront

landowners should be subjected to whatever sweet-talking and

arm-twisting are necessary for a visual clean-up.

Standing on thebridge, the potential also becomes clear for

the park board's proposed Mill Ruins Park, an archaeological dig ofthe 28 mill ruins hidden under sand piles near the burned-out

Washburn-Crosby Mill.

In the meantime, crossing the StoneArchBridgewill be anexperience in itself. The muddy Mississippi roils below. You can

feel the spray from St. Anthony Falls, watch barges inching through

the lock or the more delicate efforts of whitewater kayaks trying topaddle upriver near Hennepin Island.

There won't be tables and chairs, but the limestone ledge

lining thebridgeis wide enough to sit on and the sidewalk overlookgenerous enough for comfortable standing. It will be bitter cold in

winter, but glorious in summer. We'll be up and over the river at

last.

Star Tribune architecture critic Linda Mack was formerly a member of

the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board.

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