Interlachen bridge in Ham Lake to be replaced

There are speed bumps and then there is the speed bump of Interlachen Drive.

by Eric Hagen
Staff writer

There are speed bumps and then there is the speed bump of Interlachen Drive.

This is no yellow bump constructed to slow down traffic driving through the tight quarters of Ham Lake’s Hiawatha Beach neighborhood. This is the result of an old bridge design.

To lower the large bump, the corrugated metal arch pipe that water flows through under the 51-foot long bridge will be replaced with a box culvert. The bridge will also be lengthened to 74 feet.

Peterson Companies of Chisago City won the bid with a construction price of around $330,000. A Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) bridge program grant is funding 35.6 percent of this.

A few years ago, a group of kids were driving fast through the neighborhood to go airborne over this large bump, Councilmember Gary Kirkeide recalled. They got in a serious accident although thankfully nobody died.

Kirkeide said this drew the public spotlight on fixing this bridge, but funding had to be found.

Thomas Hailey of RFC Engineering said the city sought the MnDOT bridge program grant for multiple years to assist with this project

Hailey said the project could start by the end of August and wrap up next year. While the box culvert is being constructed, this section of road would have to close, but the road will be open to local traffic during the project.

The bridge goes over the only channel of water that connects Little Coon Lake to Coon Lake. The current bridge and new bridge both technically allow boat traffic to get through, but resident Mike Bury said the low water levels make it difficult to actually do it.

Eric Hagen is at eric.hagen@ecm-inc.com