This is a very typical steel girder bridge from the era of the 1950s. It is a very functional bridge, but a bridge with absolutely no decorative features, which again is typical of that era. Today, this would likely have been built as a prestressed concrete girder, much like many of the newer bridges on the lower section of the Minnesota River. A feature worth noting is the concrete fence style guardrails. This style is considered to be obsolete. The first reason is that they present a vertical surface to anything that strikes the rail. Second, they are open and allow road debris to be pushed into the river by snowplows. Most such bridges are being updated to the new style solid guardrail that features an angle at the bottom to redirect some of the force of an impact.

The highway 1 and highway 101 bridge is located about 3 miles from the small city of Redwood Falls. The actual falls at Redwood Falls is on the Redwood River, which joins the Minnesota River just downstream from the highway bridge.

Richard W. Sears was the first agent for the railroad depot in North Redwood, the small village between Redwood Falls and the Minnesota River bridge. Sears was involved in a deal where a local jeweler refused to accept a shipment of watches. Rather than send the watches back, Sears accepted the package and sold the watches himself. This lead to the start of a mail-order business, and along with partner Alvah R. Roebuck, they formed Sears, Roebuck, and Company.

The photo above is a view looking north down the length of the bridge deck towards Renville County from the center of Redwood County highway 101.

The photo above is the east face of the county highway 1 and highway 101 bridge as seen from a boat ramp located just downstream of the structure on the south riverbank. The photo below is a view looking down the length of the highway 1 and highway 101 bridge from the southwest corner of the structure.

The photo above is looking north down the west face of the county highway 1 and highway 101 bridge. The photo below is the bridge plate.

These two photos are views from the spring flood of 2010. The photo above is looking north down the length of the bridge deck. The photo below is the upriver west side of the structure. Note that the water level is near the top of the bridge piers.