The MN-4 bridge is located in a very rural setting. There are no towns close to the bridge. Fairfax is 8 miles to the north, while Sleepy Eye is 11 miles to the south. The bridge itself is a very modern pre-stressed concrete girder bridge typical of the newer bridges that you find on the lower section of the Minnesota River. These pre-stressed concrete girder bridges feature wide shoulders and the modern style of guardrail with the sloping face and solid construction. The sloping face helps deflect some of the impact of an out-of-control automobile, while the solid construction helps keep some of the road debris out of the river.

The city of Sleepy Eye has a connection to the Peanuts cartoon strip. Peanuts was drawn by St. Paul native Charles Schulz. Schulz studied at the Minneapolis School of Art. One of his instructors was Linus Maurer, who was born and raised in Sleepy Eye. To honor his friend and teacher, Schulz added the Linus character to the Peanuts cartoon strip. The city of Sleepy Eye displays a statue of Linus in front of the city library.

This bridge replaced bridge #4800. Bridge #4800 was built in the period from late 1930 to the middle of 1931. It was considered to be an important bridge for the regional economy. Traffic through the area was increasing, and the existing route was 4 miles longer and contained two steep hills and 33 sharp turns. The bridge had two larger through truss (Parker truss) sections flanked by two smaller pony truss (Warren truss) sections. The bridge was 419.3 feet long with the longest span being 141.6 feet. The bridge was 24 feet wide. The state considered this bridge to be representative of the larger bridges on the Minnesota state trunk highway system due to its size, cost, location over a major river, and traffic load. Plans were put in place in 1990 to replace this bridge. It was removed in 1994 to make way for the current bridge.

Bridge #4800 replaced an earlier bridge that was low and subject to frequent flooding. That bridge was located one-half mile upstream from the current location. That bridge appears on historical plat maps from 1905 and 1915, but I have not yet found dates for the construction or removeal of that bridge.