The Smith Avenue High Bridge or the High Bridge is an inverted

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

that carries

Minnesota State Highway 149 Minnesota State Highway 149 (MN 149) is a highway in Minnesota that runs from its intersection with State Highway 3 in Inver Grove Heights to its northern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 5 (W. 7th Street) in Saint Paul. Out ...

and Smith Avenue over the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

, United States. It was built and opened in 1987 at a cost of $20 million. The bridge carries two lanes of street traffic over the river and is the highest bridge in St. Paul, with a deck height of and a clearance below of . The current bridge replaced a iron

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

deck truss bridge constructed in 1889. In 1904 the original bridge was partially destroyed by a tornado or severe storm and the southernmost five spans had to be rebuilt. With modest alterations it served for nearly a century, but in 1977 an inspection found irreparable structural deficiencies. The

Minnesota Department of Transportation The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...

enacted a weight restriction on the bridge until it was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1985. The ornamental ironwork on the replacement was built using iron from the old bridge. The first bridge had been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1981 and was delisted in 1988. In February 2008, ''

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...

'', a weekly publication in the Twin Cities, published a feature about the long history of suicide at the bridge. The article included testimony of a survivor who leapt from the bridge. The bridge closed September 2017 for a redecking project. It reopened to traffic the afternoon of November 21, 2018.

Gallery

File:St. Paul from under High Bridge, St. Paul, Minn (NYPL b12647398-68041).tiff, Original High Bridge circa 1900 Image:Wreck of the High Bridge 1904.jpg, Wreck of the High Bridge in the storm of 1904 Image:St Paul High Bridge 2014.jpg, Current High Bridge from the northwest

References

External links

* * * of the previous bridge {{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota 1987 establishments in Minnesota Bridges completed in 1895 Bridges completed in 1987 Bridges in Saint Paul, Minnesota Bridges over the Mississippi River Former National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Saint Paul, Minnesota Plate girder bridges in the United States Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota

Gallery

See also

References

External links