North Star Highways
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Odds and Ends
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From time to time
I come across interesting pictures that don't fit anywhere else.
This is there place.
*Click on any image to enlarge*
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During
the installation of the tower lighting installation at I-494
and MN 100 a few years ago, workers decked out the towers with
flags until they were finished. As recently as a decade ago,
there were less than 10 such installations in Minnesota, but that
number has almost tripled.
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This
peaceful country scene is actually in the middle of Interstate
90. Southeastern Minnesota was missed by the last glaciation,
resulting in streams eroding deep V-shaped valleys. This causes
problems if you need to build a superhighway through the area.
In this case, I-90 needed to descend from the top to the bottom, and
the only way to do it was to put one lane on either side of the valley.
Although you can't really see the freeway from this angle, you can see
the sides of the valley on either side of the picture.
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The
significance of this otherwise unremarkable bridge on MN 200
is that it's the first real highway bridge on the mighty Mississippi.
Before this bridge the only crossings are highway culvert, a pedestrian
bridge, and the famous stepping stones at the source (actually piled
on top of a dam). This is looking east, the Mississippi flows north
from right to left, and there is a canoe landing visible at the left
side of the picture. Itasca State Park starts immediately to the right
of this photo.
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MN 23
cuts through a two block long stretch of Wisconisn on it's
way to Duluth. This stretch is maintained by Minnesota, and there
are no state line signs. This is a view looking northeast into
Wiscoisin; the sign at left says "Carlton County".
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You have
bridges for cars, trains, and pedestrians, but here are some
unique ones: An overpass and underpass for skiers. Lutsen Resort
is built on both sides of a valley with a road down the bottom, so
it's inevitable that skiers will have to cross at some points. The
overpass is for a blue-square run called appropriately "Bridge Run". The
underpass is for a blue-square called "Brule". In the background you can
see part of the main chalet area.
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In the movie
Pleasantville, they showed a map where all the towns named Pleasantville
are supposedly located, but they missed this real one in Southeastern
Iowa. And this is an appropriate name for the place. Despite the modern
cars, the town looks and feels like a throwback to simpler times.
When you're used to driving in the Twin Cities, it's
a culture shock to explore these parts, where people use more than
one finger to wave at you and speed limits actually mean something.
The city is where I wound up, the country is what I like..
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The Apple
River is an extremely popular place to go tubing near the Twin Cities;
there are three different resorts that do cater to renting tubes.
Near the end of the ride, these overhead signs direct riders which
direction to steer to return their tubes. The signs read:
Apple River /\
Campground |
River's Edge
Float Rite |
Exit Here
Park
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------------->
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Worthington
Truck-Bridge Crash
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Early Monday
June 2nd 2003, a truck rammed the Nobles County 9 bridge over I-90,
shutting down both the bridge and the westbound interstate. Both
the truck and the $300,000 worth of soil analysis equipment it was
carrying were declared total losses. Both the driver and passenger
suffered only minor injuries. Fortunately the bridge had been closed
for redecking and guardrail replacement.
Within two days, a local contractor stabilized the bridge by
using box culverts from their yard and steel bridge beams from the Mn/DOT
storage facility in Mankato, allowing a single lane of traffic underneath.
Within 90 days, the bridge was jacked up and the damaged pier replaced
and everything was business as usual.
These pictures were sent to me by Robert Spoerl,
who got them from someone at Mn/DOT. It is my belief that as a
product of Mn/DOT they are not copyrighted.
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