As far as I can determine, there are four structures at the Upper St.
Anthony Falls Power Plant that I would consider to be bridges. This
includes a vehicle bridge across the channel leading to the power house,
a walkway across the powerhouse outlet, a very short bridge leading to
Hennepin Island, and a new bridge leading to Water Power Park on Hennepin
island. None of these bridges cross the main channel of the the Mississippi
River.
Bridge #1 is located in a spot where it is not possible to photograph
without doing some serious and risky trespassing. The photo below,
shot through a chain-link fence, shows the sidewalk and handrailing
leading to a bridge that crosses the powerhouse intake canal. The walkway
starts in the center of the photo, and heads to the right.
The photo above illustrates the problem in photographing bridge #1.
The bridge is behind the doors that would block the water flow through
the intake canal. All other views of the bridge are from restricted
areas.
The photo below shows the walkway bridge (bridge #2) just in front of the
power house spanning the outlet and spillway. The Hennepin Island power
station is home to five hydropower generators.
The photo above is of bridge #3. It carries the outflow water from the
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory and acts as an overflow valve for the
powerplant intake. The lab is managed by the University of Minnesota, and
is used to model flows of water, liquids, and gasses. The water
flowing out of the outflow channel falls about 30 feet down to river
level. It is such a nice waterfall, yet it is hardly known despite
being in the heart of the city.
The photo below is a different view of bridge #3, again, taken through
a chain link fence. The waterfall drops off to the right.
Above is bridge #4, a new bridge that was just installed in late 2006.
It crosses the power plant intake canal. It connects Main Street with
Water Power Park, a park that sits on Hennepin Island in the middle of
the river. This park was built by Xcel Energy, the former Northern
States Power Company. They were required to submit a recreational
use plan for the power plant area as part of the license process for the
hydropower station. They came up with a fantastic plan to open this
formerly off-limits area to the public. NSP states that their will be
two overlooks to the main falls, one that is spectacular, and another
that is even better. The parked opened in June of 2007.
The photo below is another view of bridge #4 taken from Main Street.
The mills on the Minneapolis side of the river are in the background.
These mills have been rebuilt into office space, condos, and museums.
There has been no milling done in Minneapolis for many years.
Above is an aerial photo of the St. Anthony side of the upper falls.
The left side of the photo shows the power plant area, while the right
side shows Fater Hennepin Park. The locations of the four powerplant
area bridges are noted.