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Atlhough most old bridges get
demolished when they are obsolote, a few remain. These are the ones
I've found in northern Minnesota- north of the seven county metro area
and I-94.
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Redwood
River Bridge: Redwood Falls
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| Here is an old concrete arch bridge
over the Redwood River at the city of Redwood Falls. The new bridge
dates to about 1950, so this bridge has obviously been abandoned for
some time. It is now fenced off. I believe it may be a historical site,
hence the explanation why it is still extant. |
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Looking east. Notice
the train off to the left.
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Looking north at the
old bridge from the present bridge, which was built in 1978.
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I found this old
bridge a little west of Wilmar. A new overpass was built over both the
creek and the railroad (note the passing train), and this one was left,
perhaps for the benefit of railroad maintenance crew. The
pavement is intact, but you
have to drive down a dirt driveway to get to it from the main road. As
you can see, you can still drive over the bridge, but I decided not to
do it since I had no idea what kind of live load it could support.
The
guardrails neatly covered the date markers, but according
to Adam Froehlig, the original bridge was constructed in 1924, then
widened in 1930 when the road was paved..
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Walnut
Street Bridge: Mazeppa
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Looking west. The
sign says "Welcome; Bridge is OPEN". The bridge was closed to all
traffic in 1995 but was recently restored.
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Profile of the
Bridge, from a park on the west side. The piers look much too new to be
original.
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The Walnut Street
Bridge in Mazeppa was built in 1904, and has been "abandoned" for
eighty years, being used as a
pedestrain bridge since 1922. It is now on the National Register of
Historic Places.
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Profile of the bridge
today. The concrete pier is not original to the design.
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The bridge in 1933,
right after it
was moved, when it was painted white
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Looking north
across the river
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A view of the
bridge looking south, about 1910. Note that someone scrawled "#58S" on
the picture at some point. After 1920 and ever since this highway has
been MN 58.
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Old and new
plaques on concrete bases at the south end of the bridge.
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Normally I limit this page to
highway infrastructure, but this abandonded railroad trestle in Big
Falls was too cool to pass up. After the line was abandoned by BN in
the early 90's, Mn/DOT took it over, and leases it to the DNR as a
snowmobile/ATV trail. However this trestle was not reused; instead the
trail goes across a nearby highway bridge
The older plaque reads:
ZUMBROTA
COVERED BRIDGE
CONSTRUCTED OVER ZUMBRO RIVER IN 1869 COST $5,800. ORIGINAL SITE
HIGHWAY 58 ABOUT 1000 FEET FROM PRESENT LOCATION
120 FEET LONG:
TOWN LATTICE TRUSS DESIGN
PLANS BY A.J. THATCHER
CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISED BY E.L. KINGSBURY
SERVED AS STAGECOACH ROUTE BETWEEN ST. PAUL AND DUBUQUE
TRANSPORTED BY HORSES TO FAIRGROUNDS IN 1932
MOVED TO PRESENT SITE IN 1970
PLACED ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
PLAQUE BY ZUMBROTA COVERED BRIDGE SOCIETY |
The newer plaque
reads:
"THE OLD COVERED BRIDGE"
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FINISHED NOVEMBER 1869
THIS BRIDGE SPANS THE TIME FROM THE 19TH
TO THE 21ST
CENTURY
THIS AUTHENTIC 116 FOOT LONG COVERED
BRIDGE IS THE LAST IN MINNESOTA. IT WAS MOVED TO THIS LOCATION IN THE
CITY OF ZUMBROTA ON MARCH 4, 1997.
THE RESTORATION AND RELOCATION OF THIS
BRIDGE AS A BEAUTIFUL AND PRACTICAL WAY TO CROSS THE RIVER RESULTED
FROM THE COMBINED EFFORTS OF THE CITIZENS OF ZUMBROTA AND THE MEMBERS
OF THE COVERED BRIDGE SOCIETY.
"IN THS SPIRIT OF RESPECT FOR THE PAST,
DETERMINATION AND RESOLVE IN THE PRESENT, AND OPTIMISM AND FAITH IN THE
FUTURE."
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OUR SPECIAL THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO THE
FEDERAL AND MINNESOTA DEPARTMENTS OF TRANSPORTATION, GOODHUE COUNTY
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, MINNOWA
CONSTRUCTION, INC OF HARMONY, MN AND GOLDSCHMIDT HOUSE MOVERS OF ST.
JAMES,
MN |
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Northbound
MN 43 Bridge: Winona
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MN 43 "Ghost" bridge
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| Back in the 1980's,
Mn/DOT planned to widen MN 43 to 4 lanes between I-90 and Winona, but
the grading and this bridge were all they got done of the new
northbound lanes. In the meantime the ghost grade and bridge make a
dandy snowmobile and ATV trail. |
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Old
East Channel Bridge: Winona
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Daniel Kahnke
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Oblique View of the
bridge, the cable hanging down is a power cable to a houseboat.
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Although still open
for traffic, the old MN 43 bridge between Minnesota and Wisconsin is
very hard to find, and is only used by local accessing their
houseboats. It looks like it hasn't seen any maintenance in years.
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Page last
updated: January 2007
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