Blake Road starts at highway MN-7 in Hopkins and runs south through Edina. The northern section of the road between MN-7 and Excelsior Boulevard is a relatively busy street, and the bridge over the Minnehaha Creek is one of the busiest street crossings over the creek. Typical traffic volumes on the Blake Road Bridge are 18,300 vehicles per day.

The Blake Road Bridge is a fairly routine prestressed concrete girder bridge. This is a very common bridge style in Minnesota, and this technology has proven to be very reliable. The interesting feature of this particular bridge is that it is built at an angle. The Minnehaha Creek crosses Blake Road at a 30-degree angle. The bridge abutments are built parallel to the creek channel. The result is that the bridge deck is shaped like a diamond or a rhombus.

Blake Road represents a transition point for the creek on its path downhill towards the Mississippi River. Upstream of this location, the creek is less developed and relatively undisturbed in modern times. Starting at Blake Road, the creek enters a mile section that is heavily industrialized. It emerges into an urban area, which it travels through for about 6 miles, and then enters the 5 mile long Minnehaha Parkway system.

The photo above is looking north down the length of the bridge deck. Highway MN-7 is located one-quarter mile to the north, with Knollwood Mall visible in the distance on the far side of the highway.

These two photos are looking upstream to the northwest at the east face of the Blake Road Bridge. The photo above is a view from behind an office building located at the corner of Blake Road and Lake Street. The photo below is a view from the deck of the nearby Lake Street Bridge.

These two photos are views of the upstream west side of the Blake Road Bridge as seen from the south bank of the Minnehaha Creek. The photo above is taken from a few feet upstream of the bridge, while the photo below is from the southwest corner of the structure. The signs on the side of the bridge are street name signs for canoeists.

The photo above is looking east across Blake Road at the south end of the bridge. Since the Minnehaha Creek crosses the road at an angle, the bridge is set an a 30-degree diagonal to the road. The photo below is the bridge plate.