Crosses Mississippi River Maintained by BNSF Railway Opened 1884 Clearance below 8.2 m Body of water Mississippi River | Locale Minneapolis, Minnesota ID number 12.1 Total length 250 m Location Minneapolis | |
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Carries Two tracks of the BNSF Railway Design Seven plate girder spans and one through-truss span Bridge type Truss bridge, Plate girder bridge Similar Cappelen Memorial Bridge, Camden Bridge, Cedar Avenue Bridge, Interlachen Bridge, Hennepin Avenue Bridge | ||
Northern Pacific-BNSF Minneapolis Rail Bridge is a combination plate girder bridge and truss bridge that spans the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
It was built in 1884 by the Northern Pacific Railway. The bridge was originally built in 1884 with five through-trusses. In 1927, it was renovated with nine plate-girder spans. In 1963, to provide upstream river navigation, two girder spans and three regular piers were removed to make room for a Warren truss span over the main channel, set on two heavier piers. This work took almost two years.
The bridge was originally built to provide access to Northern Pacific's yards just north of downtown Minneapolis. By the 1980s the yards were mostly gone, but the bridge remains as a link to industries located north of downtown that still require rail service by Northern Pacific successor BNSF.