Hey Twin Ports! Slow The Heck Down On The Blatnik Bridge

In recent weeks during the COVID-19 Pandemic, we've seen a lot of reports about people speeding. Some of it is extreme speeding cases with vehicles going over 100 mph. The Minnesota State Patrol has announced recent efforts to crack down on speeding on Minnesota Highways.

I really didn't think we had that big of a problem here in the Twin Ports, as most of the cases we've heard about have been in the Twin Cities metro area. However, I have begun to notice as more people are commuting in the early morning hours that they are flying across the Blatnik Bridge.

I'll be going close to the speed limit (55mph) and I have vehicles passing me like I am standing still. Some of them have to be going 70-75 miles per hour. That's pretty fast for a bridge that at it's highest point is 127 feet above the water. Can those barriers on the side of the bridge prevent a car from going over if an accident were to occur at high speeds? There's been cases in the winter time of vehicles going over the side. It's rare but it has happened when snow has been piled up along the barrier creating a ramp.

I just google "car going off bridge," and I wouldn't recommend you do the same because there are a lot of stories where reckless drivers have gone right over the side. In the Northland our accidents on the bridge are normally weather related in the winter, like this vehicle that went off an I-35 bridge last year in Duluth.

You can see how driving too fast and causing an accident could result in a vehicle be thrown off the bridge with potentially fatal results. Slow down!