Jul. 18—DRESBACH, Minn. — The right lane on the eastbound side of Interstate 90 in Dresbach, which is north of La Crescent, is closed following a semi on fire under the Interstate 90 bridge near Dixon Road.
A semi was traveling on Interstate 90 when the semi caught on fire and they pulled off the interstate under the bridge, according to Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Troy Christianson. The driver was uninjured.
The interstate, between exit 270 and 272, has the right eastbound lane closed, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The closure is expected until about midnight Friday, July 18, 2025.
The westbound lanes are open. Both directions of travel were closed briefly on Friday afternoon.
“The roadway is reduced to one lane. Road maintenance work is in progress,” MnDOT posted around 5:30 p.m. Friday.
The semi fire was reported out at about 2:45 p.m., Christianson said. The La Crescent, Dakota and Nodine fire departments responded to the scene.
MnDOT District 6 Director of Communications Mike Dougherty said they were coordinating the details of the detour. The exit at Dresbach does not have an on-ramp back to the interstate, which makes the detour “tricky,” he said. There will “likely” be Winona County roads for the detour.
“There’s two bridges, so it sounds like there was concern about damage just to the eastbound bridge so westbound traffic remains open on I-90,” Dougherty said. “We’ve got inspectors and bridge personnel that are (on the scene) to assess what the damage is and then … they’ll be consulting with our bridge office and other engineers to determine what the next step is … before we allow traffic to return to that bridge.”
The bridge damage is “speculative,” Dougherty said.
“We always want to be extra cautious especially when we have that intense heat that’s under a bridge and it can do things to the steel and the concrete in different ways,” Dougherty said. “We’ll really need our bridge inspectors and those experts to really give it a thorough look once the emergency responders have been able to take care of of the scene there.”
For updates on the detour and road closure, visit 511mn.org.