This crossing was originally a railroad trestle for the Brainerd & Northern Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad that ran up to Canada and served the logging industry. This 1884 trestle was converted to be a steel bridge in 1951, and was replaced by the current steel girder bridge in the early 1950s. The bridge plate has the date 1981. Given the modern look of the railings, I suspect that the bridge was significantly rebuilt in the early 1980s.

This is one of five bridges to cross the Mississippi River in Brainerd. It is a relatively long bridge with relatively few piers which makes for a sleek looking structure. This bridge once carried MN State Highway 25. That route was turned back to Crow Wing County, which now calls this highway Crow Wing County Highway 3.

The photo above is the east face of the bridge as seen from the water level just east of the structure. The photo below is a view looking north down the length of the traffic deck.

The photo above is a view of the east face of the bridge as seen from the southeast corner of the structure. The photo below is the west face of the bridge as seen from the water level. Note that the water has a brown tint in these photographs.

The photo above is the southern bridge abutment as seen from under the bridge structure. This is one of the very few Mississippi River bridges that is marked with significant amounts of graffiti. The photo below is the bridge plate.