In the late 1890s, the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company began building streetcar lines around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul as a means of faster and more effective transportation.
While the lines were slowly built, this route was one of the first. The line was critical for passengers to connect Minneapolis to St. Anthony and Northeast Minneapolis.
The line utilized the crossing at Third Avenue on a new bridge for a more durable and reliable source of transportation.
By 1929, the TCRT spanned from Stillwater all the way to Lake Minnetonka, a span of nearly 50 miles.
However, the streetcars proved to be less reliable and even less favorable than the automobile.
By 1954, the last streetcars ran in Minneapolis. The company had purchased several buses.
With struggles through the 1950s and 1960s, the company was finally folded in 1970.
11/07/21
The bridge here is a third generation structure, replacing a steel truss, and a wooden bridge before that.
By 1910, a new bridge was favored. The issue became the construction of the structure to avoid damaging the St. Anthony Falls and weak bedrock underneath.
City engineer Frederick W. Cappelen solicited the New York based Concrete-Steel Engineering Company for bridge plans, which called for a reinforced Melan style arch, designed into a reverse "S" Shape to avoid the dangerous bluffs.
The bridge construction lasted for three years, and was finally complete in 1916.
The bridge featured 6 Melan Style arches, with concrete beam approaches.
When first constructed, the bridge could hold two streetcar tracks, two traffic lanes and two pedestrian lanes.
When the bridge was reconstructed with a new deck in 1939, the streetcar tracks were removed. The bridge would then be widened out to its current size of four traffic lanes and two pedestrian lanes.
By 1980, the bridge was reconstructed again. This time, the arches were reinforced, the approaches replaced and other ascetic details such as railings removed.
Today, the bridge is a landmark structure and preservation plans have been put in place at a state level. However, there is no evidence the bridge ever carried a railroad just 80 years prior.
Through the years, the structure has carried:
3rd Avenue/Central Avenue
Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company
US-65
MN-65
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant, due to the large scale design. An additional rehabilitation was begun in 2020, and is expected to last until 2022.
The photo above is looking from the north bank.
| Upstream (Main Channel) | Nicollet Island Rail Bridge |
| Upstream (East Channel) | BNSF East Channel Bridge |
| Downstream | Stone Arch Bridge |