ID number 2441 Opened 1923 Total length 321 m Location Minneapolis | Locale Minneapolis, Minnesota Design Concrete Arch Height 17 m Area 6,475 m² Bridge type Deck arch bridge | |
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Carries CSAH 5 (Franklin Avenue) Official name F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge Similar 10th Avenue Bridge, Intercity Bridge, Third Avenue Bridge, Hennepin Avenue Bridge, Lake Street‑Marshall Bridge | ||
Franklin avenue bridge reconditioning
The Franklin Avenue Bridge, officially the F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge, carries Franklin Avenue over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was designed by Frederick William Cappelen, assisted by Kristoffer Olsen Oustad, both of whom were among four important Norwegian-American engineers working in the region at the time. The reinforced-concrete open-spandrel arched structure was completed in 1923. The bridge's overall length is 1054.7 feet (321.47 m), with a central span of 400 feet (122 m). It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 along with several other area bridges as part of a multiple-property submission. At the time of its completion, the bridge's central span was the longest concrete arch in the world.
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The bridge originally carried streetcars, which were removed in the 1940s. A major renovation in the early 1970s changed many of the ornamental details and widened a completely replaced deck. A bike lane was added in 2005. The bridge will be extensively rehabilitated from 2015-2016, including restoring some of the details lost in the 1970s reconstruction