Owner Minnesota Dept. of Transportation-District 1 General Contractor/CM Kiewit Infrastructure Co. Lead Design Firm/Structural Engineer Parsons Civil Engineer SEH Inc. Key Subcontractors All Phase Contracting; Alpine Steel Inc. (JD Steel); Badger Daylighting Corp.; Barr Engineering Co.; Braun Intertec Corp.
Due to its easement agreement with a mining company, the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation had to relocate 3.2 miles of U.S. Highway 53 in the Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota to allow mining operations to continue. Contractor Kiewit Infrastructure Co. had only two years to construct the roadway, which included a 1,132-ft-long, 92-ft-wide and more than 200-ft-tall structural steel bridge—the state’s tallest—over an inactive water-filled open-pit iron mine that also acts as a drinking-water source for nearby communities.