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Polaris and one of its Twin Cities-area dealers, Digger’s Polaris & Marine in Prior Lake, Minnesota, have provided Sportsman ATVs and RANGER side-by-side utility vehicles to help crews in the recovery efforts at the site of the Interstate 35W bridge disaster.
“As a Minnesota company, we share in the sorrow this tragedy has left on our state,” said Polaris President and Chief Operating Officer Bennett Morgan. “It’s our hope that the units provided make this very difficult effort a bit easier for all involved.”
The bridge that once spanned the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis collapsed on August 1. It was the busiest highway bridge in Minnesota, with more than 100,000 vehicles rolling across its deck on an average day.
“When our dealership was contacted to provide ATVs and side-by-side vehicles for the recovery effort, there was no doubt in my mind we would make it happen,” said Doug Nagle, owner of Digger’s Polaris & Marine. “This tragedy has hit very close to home and providing these units is our way to help with the effort.”
Digger’s Polaris provided six Sportsman 500 ATVs and six Polaris RANGER 4x4s to the Minneapolis Police Department and OSHA to aid in the recovery effort. Polaris vehicles also were used in the recovery and clean-up efforts following Hurricane Katrina, at Ground Zero in New York City and during various Minnesota flood relief efforts.
While crews work to recover vehicles and victims at the site of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, plans are already underway for design and construction of a replacement bridge. The project is expected to be undertaken with great speed, and officials hope a new span could open as early as 2008.
Construction on the bridge that collapsed began in 1964 and it was opened to highway traffic in 1967.
www.diggerspolarisandmarine.com
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