Via the Minnesota Department of Transportation:

We resumed repairs to the Stillwater Lift Bridge yesterday following the arrival of new drums and gears used to raise the lift span of the nearly 90-year old bridge.

The lift schedule for the bridge will not be in effect on weekdays for the next three weeks while crews repair the lift system. Crews will manually lower the lift span every Monday morning and raise it by early Friday morning. When crews raise the bridge at the end of each week, larger boats will be able to pass through the lift section of the bridge throughout the weekend.

When we removed the drums from each tower of the lift span in May 2019, we sent them to be repaired and fitted with new ring and pinion gears. After arriving, the company discovered that one of the drums had a major crack. Following several meetings, we concluded in June 2019 that it was more cost effective to replace both drums with new drums since we could not guarantee the other drum wouldn’t develop problems as well.

MnDOT road work has been identified as a critical service in Gov. Tim Walz’s Stay at Home executive order. We are being as flexible as possible with schedules during this period of lower traffic volumes to keep projects moving forward and minimize the impact to motorists. Following guidance from state and federal health officials, and to prevent further spread of COVID-19, crews will maintain social distancing practices while working.

Once repairs on the lift span and the rest of the bridge are completed by the end of May, the bridge will open as part of the new 4.7 mile St. Croix River Crossing loop trail. The new bicycle/pedestrian trail includes the new St. Croix River Crossing bridge along with other local and regional trails. At the same time, the 2020 lift schedule will go into effect to accommodate boat navigation on the St. Croix River.

Transformation of the lift bridge to a bicycle/pedestrian crossing began in August 2017.

If you’d like more information about the Stillwater Lift Bridge project, please visit: mndot.gov/metro/projects/liftbridge.