By the mid-1990s, the Jackpot Junction Casino had become a major enterprise, attracting gaming patrons from all over southern Minnesota as well as the Twin Cities. The roads near Morton were ill-suited to handle this increase in traffic. MN-DOT decided to fix the situation by rebuilding and widening US-71 past Morton, across the Minnesota River, and towards Redwood Falls. Completed in 1997, this bypass resulted in two new Minnesota River bridges, and the removal of one of the old river bridges.

This through truss bridge once carried US-17 and MN-19 across a back- channel of the Minnesota River known as Sulphur Lake. The bridge serves no real need today, but there was also no need to remove it since it was basically sound and not in the way. It is still open to traffic, as is much of the old US-17 pavement in the area. It is hoped that a regional trail will be established in this area at some point in the future. Such a trail would require a fairly large trail bridge to be built across the main channel of the Minnesota River, something that will have to wait until the state is a little more flush with cash.