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Tim Nelson

Hole in deck closes Osceola bridge over the St. Croix

The Highway 243 Bridge crosses the Saint Croix River at Osceola, Wisc.
The Highway 243 Bridge crosses the Saint Croix River at Osceola, Wisc., seen here looking west along the downstream south face of the bridge.
Courtesy John A. Weeks III

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Updated: 4:36 p.m. | Posted: 3:31 p.m.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has closed to traffic a bridge over the St. Croix River that the agency says has suffered damage to its deck.

MnDOT offered few details about the nature of the damage, other than a brief posting on its traveler information site saying there is a hole in the deck of the bridge.

"The hole is about 2 foot by 3 foot, and there's still rebar and stuff in it, so it looks like the concrete has kind of crumbled and through," said MnDOT spokesperson Kent Barnard, "but I can't tell you exactly what caused it

The MN-243 Bridge, seen from the riverbank on the Wisconsin side.
A view of the downstream side of the MN-243 Bridge, seen from the riverbank on the Wisconsin side of the Saint Croix River in 2015, looking almost due west.
Courtesy John A. Weeks III

The bridge crosses the St. Croix River north of Marine on St. Croix, and connects Highway 95 on the Minnesota side to the Wisconsin city of Osceola.

It's the only river crossing between Taylor's Falls and Stillwater.

The bridge is a steel truss design and is listed among the state's fracture critical bridges, subject to sudden failure in certain situations.

Bridge inspection records show it was built in 1953 and remodeled in 2010. A news release from MnDOT said the bridge was closed for inspection last September.

MnDOT says it is planning to repair the hole and will inspect the bridge before allowing traffic to cross it again. That could be as soon as Monday, but MnDOT officials said they couldn't say for sure when the bridge would reopen.