The Point Douglas Drawbridge has an uncommon design. Most drawbridges have a large counterweight to balance the weight of the roadway sections that are lifted. That design is known as a bascule bridge. The Point Douglas Drawbridge does not use counter-weights, so it is not a bascule bridge. Rather, the end of the bridge has a large round gear on it, and matching flat gear that is operated by hydraulics. To open the bridge, the flat gear is moved, which causes the round gear to spin, which tips the bridge deck up into the air. The Point Douglas Drawbridge is the only drawbridge in the metro area.

Prior to the drawbridge being constructed, a lift bridge carried US-10 across the Saint Croix River. The lift bridge was built in 1922. It had spans of 172 feet, 174 feet, and 192 feet. Each of these spans were through truss spans, with the 174 foot span being the lift span.

The photo above is a view of the bridge taken from the park on the west side of the river. The park is located on a thin strip of land that separates the Saint Croix River from the Mississippi River. The BNSF Railroad lift bridge is visible on the right side of the photo. The Saint Croix joins the Mississippi just to the right of the railroad bridge. The city of Prescott, Wisconsin, is located on the east side of the river.

The photo below is a view of the drawbridge from the east side of the river. The concrete blocks located in the water near the bridge piers are the piers of the old lift bridge. Note that the old piers and the large pile are connected with a walkway. This walkway has an access door coming out of the side of the lift bridge machinery room.

The photo above is a profile view of the south face of the bridge as seen from the riverfront in Prescott on the east side of the Saint Croix River. The BNSF Railroad lift bridge is directly behind the vantage point of the photographer in this shot, with the Mississippi River being on the far side of the railroad lift bridge. The photo below is a view of the north face of the bridge as seen from the northwest corner of the structure.

These two photos are views of the bridge deck taken from sidewalk level. The photo above is looking east across the span towards the city of Prescott. The photo below is looking west towards Minnesota from the Wisconsin side of the bridge.

The photo above is the first of four photos to show a typical river crossing from the west heading east into Wisconsin. In the photo above, we are rounding a fairly sharp and tight curve at the west end of the bridge. In the photo below, we have entered the west end of the bridge.

In the photo above, we are entering onto the deck of the lift span. The lift span uses a steel grate as the floor of the span. The small building to the right of the roadway is the control building for the bridge. The photo below is a view where we are exiting the east end of the bridge and are heading into Wisconsin territory.