The previous bridge at this location was a 1947 era steel pony truss bridge. An inspection prompted by the I-35W bridge disaster found that the floor beams on the 1947 bridge were deteriorated too far to be practical to fix. As a result, the old truss bridge was removed in May and June of 2008.

The new bridge is both wider and longer than the old bridge. It was built by Duininck Brothers, Inc. They bid $22,000 to remove the old bridge, and $498,530 to build the new bridge. This was about 13% higher than the construction estimate that was prepared by the design engineer. The bridge design is very traditional, but the style is somewhat unusual compared to other recently built river bridges in Minnesota. The most common design that is being used is the concrete girder method. Those bridges are built by placing concrete girders across the spans, then building a deck on top of the girders. This bridge, however, is built as a single concrete slab that was poured in place on top of temporary wooden forms. There are no beams or girders, rather, the deck is the structural element.

The photo above is a view looking southeast towards the bridge from a vantage point near a boat landing in the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge.

These two photos are views from a boat landing located northwest of the highway 15 and highway 19 bridge over the Minnesota River. The photo above is a overview shot, while the photo below is a close view of the main river channel span. Note that the bridge appears to be much higher than in the photos of the old bridge on an adjacent page. That is a bit of an illusion since the water levels are low in these photos taken in November, 2009, while the photos of the old bridge were taken during a period of high water in spring of 2008.

These two photos are views from the southwest corner of the structure. The photo above is the upriver west face of the bridge. The photo below is looking northeast across the bridge deck. Note that there are no guard rails on either end of this bridge.

The photo above is looking directly north down the length of the bridge deck from the center of Lac Qui Parle county highway 15. The county line is at the center of the bridge, so the far side is Big Stone county highway 19. The photo below is the bridge plate.