This bridge was a small, yet historic Deck Plate Girder structure in Hopkins. It was located just east of Blake Road.
Built in 1909 and 1912/13, this bridge was first built using a pair of secondhand plate girders, before the eastbound/southern track was added.
These girders were built at Bridge #L-64 (Winona, Minnesota) as a deck in 1894 and L-160 (Lake City, Minnesota) as a through girder in 1891. In 1909, those spans were replaced, sent here and combined into a "twinned" or "double strength" span.
During a double tracking project in 1912, the second track was added to this bridge. The final bridge consisted of the twinned deck girder span, and a parallel standard deck girder span, set onto concrete substructures.
In 2020, the bridge was unfortunately demolished, as well as the parallel Trail Bridge. The Southwest Light Rail "Green Line" project is requiring a complete reconstruction of this right of way.
At the time of demolition, the bridge was in fair to poor condition. Significant spalling and cracking had begun to form on the abutments, and the girders were starting to show age as well.
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is as best of overview as can be had.