From Left to Right:  MnDOT State Bridge Engineer Kevin Western, Adam Nelson – Cook County, Krysten Foster – Cook County Highway Engineer, Thomas J. Wilson – Erickson Engineering, and Laura Ziegler of AGC of Minnesota.  Photo:  Cook County MN

Media Release from Cook County MN - May 10, 2019

Highway Department Engineering Technician Adam Nelson and Engineer Krysten Foster attended yesterday’s MnDOT-AGC Spring Meeting to accept an award for the bridge replacement partnership project between Cook County and Lutsen Mountains Corporation (LMC) on CSAH 5. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Associated General Contractors of Minnesota (AGC) Bridge Construction Awards Committee named Cook County’s CSAH 5 Bridge, which is just past Eagle Ridge check-in, as the Best Small Bridge (i.e. costing less than $1.5 million) constructed in Minnesota in 2018.

The award winning bridge on CSAH 5 in Lutsen.  Photo:  Cook County MN

MnDOT and AGC recognized the construction project team including contractor S&R Reinforcing, Inc. and structural design firm Erickson Engineering for exceptional workmanship, construction site safety, timeliness, and innovative project delivery.  

Adam Nelson, Scott Benolken, and Randy Roberts from the Cook County Highway Department oversaw day-to-day construction operations during last summer’s project with Foster serving as Cook County’s Project Engineer for the construction phase.

S&R Reinforcing managed to remove the old timber bridge in time to accommodate the annual Lutsen 99er event in late-June and opened the new bridge to traffic in August. Maintaining access to destinations north of the bridge during construction presented unique challenges for the project team with dozens of pedestrians and delivery vehicles passing through the work zone on a daily basis. In the workmanship category, engineers specifically noted the bridge surface quality, railing details, and overall aesthetics as award-winning features. The aesthetic features were funded by LMC under a cooperative agreement with Cook County.

In addition to Cook County’s project, two complex MnDOT-led projects received top honors at the engineering awards event in St. Paul.