The Old Sartell Bridge is a bridge that spans 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 fl ...

in the city of Sartell in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Though still standing, it is closed to traffic and was replaced by the

Sartell Bridge The Sartell Bridge is a bridge that spans the Mississippi River in the city of Sartell in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The bridge also spans a roadway, property belonging to the Sartell paper mill, and a rail line on the east side of the rive ...

constructed about 850 feet downstream. The bridge is around 1000 feet downstream of the

Sartell Dam The Sartell Dam is a dam across the Mississippi River in Sartell, Minnesota in the United States. The dam was used to generate hydroelectric power for the adjoining Sartell Paper Mill before it burned down in 2012. The dam is referred to as th ...

. The bridge was built during a six-month period in 1914, but over the years the bridge became congested and less able to carry heavy traffic. As early as 1957, heavy trucks were found to be too much for the span. When the new bridge was built in 1984, the old bridge was used as a pedestrian footbridge, but it became impractical for this use since there was a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

at the east end. The bridge carries utility lines and was reopened for pedestrian traffic on June 9, 2023 with lookouts for fishing. It is accessible to pedestrians from the west and closed on the east end. The Old Sartell Bridge is a three span pin connected camelback through truss. The camelback design is a specific type of Parker truss, where the polygonal top chord is composed of exactly five sections. Each span of the Old Sartell Bridge is composed of six panels. The bridge is supported by concrete piers and abutments.

References

Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere
- Provides identification information used to identify the Old Sartell Bridge. * Bridges completed in 1914 Bridges over the Mississippi River Buildings and structures in Benton County, Minnesota Buildings and structures in Stearns County, Minnesota Former road bridges in Minnesota Sartell, Minnesota Transportation in Benton County, Minnesota Transportation in Stearns County, Minnesota Parker truss bridges in the United States {{Minnesota-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References