MN-101 Bridge
MN-101 Minnesota River Crossing
Shakopee, MN

MN-101 Bridge

• Structure ID: NBI: 10007.
• Location: River Mile 26.9.
• River Elevation: 693 Feet.
• Highway: MN-101.
• Daily Traffic Count: 21,200 (2004).
• Bridge Type: Steel Girder, Concrete Deck.
• Length: 310 Feet.
• Width: 47 Feet, 2 Lanes.
• Navigation Channel Width: Non-Navigable.
• Height Above Water: ???.
• Date Built: 1982.
This bridge crosses a backchannel of the Minnesota River as part of the highway river crossing at Shakopee. The photo above shows the approach to the bridge. The photo directly below shows the causeway across the river flats about two tenths of a mile south of the birdge. The final photo is the causeway about one half of a mile south of hte birdge. The vegitation and trees hide the fact that there is water on both sides of the causeway.

Note the highway sign in the phtot below. It notes the depth of the river water during the floods of 1965 and 1993. This causeway, as well as the MN-41 causeway (upstream) and the old Bloomington Ferry Bridge (downstream) are very quick to flood in high water. The new Bloomington Ferry Bridge was built above the 100 year flood line to prevent it flooding in the future. MN-DOT is looking at building a new freeway style river crossing over the Minnesota River between this bridge and the MN-41 causeway to prevent traffic from being blocked by future floods.

This section of road has been marked with several different designations over the years. It was US-169, until the Bloomington Ferry Bridge opened in 1996. From there, it was MN-101. MN-101 in Scott County was later turned back to county maintenance, so MN-101 ended at the county line. That means that the upper part of the causeway and the backchannel bridge in Carver Co are part of MN-101. The NBI, however, calls this section of road US-969D. In Scott County, maps differ on the main channel bridge being on CSAH-69 or CSAH-101, both of which are local county roads.


MN-101 Bridge
MN-101 Bridge

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Photo and text by John A. Weeks III, Copyright © 2005, all rights reserved.
For further information, contact: john@johnweeks.com