Minnesota Department of Transportation officials picked a joint team from Colorado and Seattle today to build a replacement for the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge. Flatiron Constructors and Manson Construction won the project despite submitting the high bid of $233.7 million. MnDOT will award stipends of $500,000 to each of the three losing bidders to cover the costs or preparing proposals. The original plan called for $300,000 stipends. DFL Representative Jeremy Kalin of Lindstrom says there's been no public accounting of the reason for paying more to the losing bidders.