MANKATO, Minn. – The crisis at the Rapidan Dam upriver from Mankato has deepened. The dam remains in jeopardy but now so too is the County Road 9 bridge a few yards behind the dam. Debris has piled up at the concrete piers that support the bridge, creating structural pressure that is crumbling at the piers. The debris is all the worse because a stand of trees, already dead from droughts, has been carried down river and dammed tightly into the bridge. The two-lane bridge, about 40 years years old, has been closed since the crisis began at the dam. The bridge is a vital connection over the Blue Earth River for rural people southwest of Mankato. The Rapidan Dam, meanwhile, remains in place but also in imminent danger of failure. Last week the raging river carved a new path through saturated soil on one side of the dam. The gaping gash widened and widened and disabled a power station and swallowed a house on the bank. Later the Rapidan general store, a neighborhood fixture, was abandoned because it too was in danger of going next. In all this there have been no injuries.
Bridge now in peril too. County road engineers can’t get close enough to insect bridge damage thoroughly. It’s too dangerous to go out there. Also: Heavy equipment operators don’t dare venture on forays onto the bridge to remove the accumulated debris.