I’ve always been fascinated with highways and bridges that have been abandoned; either returned to the elements or reused as bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Here’s a selection of abandoned and repurposed-for-bicycle infrastructure that I’ve found during my travels.
Old US 61, North Shore Drive
In an almost perpetual project, Mn/DOT has been reconstructing the famous MN 61, turning a scenic and dangerous road into a dull and safe one. The new alignment is generally more inland than the old, up to a block father. In the process, some of the old road has been left for local access, but most has been simply removed. There is a long term plan for a bicycle trail along the North Shore Drive, and much of the routing will be over the abandoned stretches of the highway.
Walnut Street Bridge, Mazeppa
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.
Point Douglas to Superior Military road
From Wikipedia:
In 1852 the federal government began building the Point Douglas to Superior Military Road. Although intended as a highway for troop movement, this route from Hastings, Minnesota on the Mississippi River to Superior, Wisconsin on Lake Superior, was one of the first roads in Minnesota Territory and attracted a flood of civilian and commercial traffic. When Minnesota achieved statehood in 1858, responsibility for the road devolved to the state, which did not have the funds to finish the project. Although very rough and in places incomplete, the road was still the best route north until railroads were built in 1870. An alternative to the Military Road that ushered in the decline in use of the road came in 1895 when William Henry Grant built a spur of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad to run to Sandstone, Minnesota. Traces of the unimproved military road can still be seen in Wild River State Park and Banning State Park.
On private property and not ordinarily visible to the public is the “Old Stone Bridge” built as part of the military road in 1865
One of the aforementioned sections in Wild River State Park
Normandale Bridge
Between Savage and Bloomington there used to be a one lane highway bridge along with the railroad swing bridge. It was originally part of the trunk highway system until the Shakopee Bridge was built in the late 1920s.
It remanded under local control until it was closed in the early 1980s. It was clear it could not handle modern traffic volumes, and there were several accidents at the queue on the Bloomington side, where the descent down the bluff and the foliage made it difficult to see the stopped traffic ahead.
With the horrific congestion problem on the I-35W and Bloomington Ferry Bridges, Scott County has recently made noises about wanting the bridge reopened. Bloomington is not thrilled with the idea and nothing has become of it.
Duluth Interstate Bridge
The older of the two bridges was the Interstate Bridge. In 1959 the Duluth-Superior “High” Bridge opened, and the Interstate Bridge closed at that time. Soaring 120 feet above the harbor and 8000 feet long, the Duluth-Superior Bridge cost 20 million dollars, then the largest single project partly in Minnesota. On Sept 24, 1971, the new bridge was named to honor John A. Blatnik, congressman for 30 years and one of the persons instrumental in preserving the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and a major sponsor of the Interstate highway program
Here’s a view showing it back in the day from a vintage postcard
Arrowhead Bridge, Duluth
The other bridge in between Duluth and Superior was built later and lasted longer. The Arrowhead Bridge was built in the late 1920s, a bit south of the Interstate Bridge. Also a toll bridge, it carried US 2. The bridge was named after the Arrowhead Region, which had just aquired it’s name in a contest sponsored by a local tourist board. (This was about the time the automobile made tourism to the area a possiblity, and they needed a catchy name. They realized that the iron would soon be gone, but tourism could last forerver).
In 1985, the Richard Bong bridge was built about a mile north of here, and the Arrowhead bridge was closed and removed. Besides being at 8300 feet the longest bridge partially in the state, it was the last tied arch bridge to be built here.
Bong was a famous WWII flying ace from Superior, who shot down 40 enemy airplanes (The Red Baron’s tally was 26) before being killed in 1945 when a jet fighter he was testing malfunctioned.
Today not much is left of the Arrowhead Bridge, just a short stub used as a fishing pier on the Wisconsin side. Part of the Lesure Street Causeway, the approach road on the Minnesota side, was removed as part of a wetlands reclamation effort.
Old US 2 Bridge; Bass Brook
Here’s an abandoned bridge along US 2 over Bass Brook in Cohasset. Note the railroad trestle right behind it, and that someone has built a garage blocking one end. Although there is no date on the bridge, according to Adam Froehlig highway logs show the bridge was built in 1930. The replacement bridge was likely constructed in 1969 when the stretch was widened to four lanes, then rebuilt when the road was repaved in 1983.
Big Falls Railroad Trestle
I normally limit this page to highway Bridges, but this old railroad trestle was to beautiful to pass up.
Abandoned MN 243, near Osceola, WI
Over time MN 243 was rerouted to reduce the huge hill up from the river bridge. Here’s an section of pavement being lost to the weeds
