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A railroad bridge across the Snake River, at Pine City, has been shutdown due to deterioration and it's affecting at least two large businesses in Chisago County.

Peterson's Mill in North Branch, and Amber Milling of Rush City ship product and receive materials via rail cars that must cross this deteriorating bridge.

A third major enterprise alongside this rail line-- ZinPro in Harris-- is not using rail at this time, according to its manager. ZinPro is set-up with a "spur" to the rail if it opts to utilize railroad transport in the future. ZinPro produces organic trace minerals that go into animal feed.

St. Croix Valley Railroad leases the route stretch from North Branch to Hinckley/Pine City from Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF). Messages left for the St. Croix general manager were not returned.

The rail line has been non-operational for about a month, with everyone awaiting a decision on whether to repair the bridge.

In the meantime Amber Mill has closed its doors.

Peterson's Mill is receiving ag fertilizer by truck temporarily, but it's not an ideal method of doing business, said Jerry Peterson.

Along the rail line, "...a lot of revenue is being lost," Peterson commented. "It's creating an impact economically, I don't know what the outcome will be." His concern is it could be months before the bridge is rebuilt/replaced.

Chisago County HRA/Economic Development Executive Director Chris Eng estimated about 40 people were left without a job when the Rush City mill closed. The facility processed durham wheat out of Canada.

Along with those direct job losses, Eng mentioned East Central Electric Cooperative (ECE) is also losing major revenues without the mill running.

Eng feels that financing could probably be pulled together, there's a variety of transportation-related and rural development grant and aid programs he's already researched. But it's up to the rail companies to determine if sinking an estimated $500,000 into the bridge project is an acceptable expenditure.

Eng said what also concerns him is if this rail line shuts down it means Chisago County is without any rail service. That's a negative when marketing the county for industry and business development, he added.

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