This is a little known metro area bridge due to it being well off of the beaten track and hidden by trees. The bridge is located close to the St. Paul Police Impound Yard, but you cannot see it from there. It is also located close to the St. Paul Airport, but you cannot see it from there, either, unless you go through the gate and drive along the perimeter road to the south tip of the airport property. It is located right next to the Pigs Eye Water Treatment Plant, but in an area that is off limits since 9/11, so you cannot see it from there, either. You can catch a glimpse of the truss section from Concord Ave (see the bottom photo below), but you cannot see the main swing span from that vantage point.

It turns out that there is one pretty good vantage point to view the bridge from 2 miles away from the top of the hill at Mounds Park. It takes a long telephoto, however, to photograph it from that location. The second and third photos were taken from Mounds Park, the third photo shows a train crossing the bridge.

As it turns out, the land just south of the swing bridge is an old landfill that was improperly closed. There is currently a project going on to strip the trees and cap the landfill with clay. That will protect the groundwater from future contamination. The trees were cut down in the fall of 2006, resulting a great vantage point to see the bridge from a regional trail overpass that crosses both Concord Ave and the Union Pacific rail yard. That view is shown in the top photo.

This bridge was built by the St. Paul Bridge and Terminal Company. It was purchased by the Chicago & Great Western Railroad, which became part of the Chicago & Northwestern, which merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. As a result, the bridge has a number of common names. These include the St. Paul Bridge and Terminal Railway Bridge, C&GW Bridge, C&NW Bridge, UPRR Bridge, the Beltline Bridge, and the Hoffman Bridge. Take your pick.

The original 1910 structure has been rebuilt several times, the most recent time in 1982.