There are five bridges as part of the Wabasha-Nelson Mississippi River crossing. The main channel bridge is at the state line. The Pontoon Slough Bridge is the first causeway bridge heading east from Minnesota, and it is located four tenths of a mile east of the state line.

This bridge is called the Pontoon Slough Bridge because it crosses Pontoon Slough. Pontoon Slough is named after a pontoon bridge that carried a railroad across the slough in years past.