MnDOT Backs Plan For Iron Range Highway Reroute
VIRGINIA, Minn. (AP) — The relocation of U.S. Highway 53 to make way for a mine expansion on the Iron Range should follow a route that would require building one of the highest bridges in the state over an abandoned mine pit outside of the city of Virginia, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
The route known as E-2 is the northernmost route that was under consideration. The project is expected to cost about $220 million.
Despite the 200-foot-high, 1,100-foot-long bridge, MnDOT said the route posed fewer challenges and had the lowest cost of all the alternatives. The agency decided against a more direct route into and out of Virginia known as E1-A that also would have spanned the water-filled pit, as well as a route that would have required a bridge over an active United Taconite mine pit.
The state is required to move Highway 53 at its own expense under a 1960 agreement because Cliffs Natural Resources plans to exercise its right to expand its United Taconite pit and mine iron ore under the existing roadway. MnDOT has until spring of 2017 to close the old route.
"From an engineering and cost point-of-view, this route stands out," MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle said in a statement encouraging public comment. Public meetings are scheduled in Virginia for Dec. 4 and Jan. 1.
Highway 53 connects Virginia and Eveleth and is one of the main highways on the Iron Range. It's also the main route for those traveling from Duluth to International Falls on the Canadian border. MnDOT earlier eliminated an alternative that would have sent the road west of Eveleth and around Virginia, bypassing most of Virginia's business district.
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