In late March of 2007, high water weakened a bridge just south of this crossing. That bridge failed, and the train crossing that bridge derailed. Three cars ended up in the water, one completely submerged. The cars were carrying raw materials bound for the American Crystal Sugar plant in Chanhassen. As of May, 2007, the bridge is still closed. It is possible that this bridge will be abandoned rather than being repaired.
Update—the current bridge owner, Union Pacific did in fact file a request in January, 2008, to abandon this rail line and bridge. Local governments are working on ideas for the possible reuse of the bridge as a regional trail. The bridge itself is in good condition, and the weakened rail line to the south of the river should support foot and bicycle traffic for many years in the future.
Update—two notes of interest. First, in searching through newspapers, I found a blurb in the September 14, 1917 Shakopee Tribune that a crew of 75 men are at work near Carver constructing a new railroad bridge over the Minnesota River. That suggests that the current bridge probably opened in the fall of that year. The second item is finding a photo of the original bridge posted in the Carver city government newsletter. The 1871 bridge appears to be a very interesting structure. The bridge consisted of two wooden truss spans on each end of the bridge, with a swing span in the center. The swing span was built from wood. It used the center pin design, which means that the swing span was a single truss. More recent swing spans use two truss spans that are connected together at the pivot point. A center pin swing span is tricky to get balanced correctly. Even more interesting is that the swing span truss had a rounded top. The swing span was operated manually with a crank mechanism.
The photo above is a view looking down the length of the bridge deck towards the southeast from the west bank of the Minnesota River.
