The Prescott Drawbridge, also called the Point Douglas Drawbridge, is a steel
girder bridge with a double-leaf
bascule drawbridge section. The roadbed of the drawbridge span is a steel grate. The bridge carries
U.S. 10 across the
St. Croix River and connects
Prescott, Wisconsin
Prescott is a city in Pierce County, Wisconsin at the confluence of the St. Croix River and Mississippi River. The population was 4,258 at the 2010 census, making it the second-largest city in the county after River Falls, and the largest entir ...
, with the
Point Douglas park area of
Denmark Township, Minnesota. This is the only highway drawbridge in the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...
area with active traffic. It was completed in 1990 and replaced a rare regional example of a
Waddell & Harrington
Waddell & Harrington was an American engineering company that designed bridges from 1907 to 1915. It was formed in 1907 as a partnership of John Alexander Low Waddell (1854–1938) and John Lyle Harrington (1868–1942) and was based in Kansas C ...
vertical-lift bridge
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...
completed in 1922 that operated as a toll bridge from 1923 to 1946. The environmental impact statement, published in 1979, considered a higher level fixed bridge at this location.
Adjacent to the road bridge, the
BNSF Railway St. Croix Subdivision crosses the St. Croix river on a
Vertical-lift bridge
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...
.
Gallery
File:Prescott, Wisconsin Bridge Spanning St. Croix River.jpg, The 1922–1990 vertical lift bridge
File:Aerial view of Prescott Bridge and BNSF Railway bridge over St. Croix River (2010).jpg, Aerial view of the 1990 bridge and adjacent BNSF Railway vertical-lift bridge
File:BNSF Lift Bridge - Prescott, Wisconsin (29712828551).jpg, BNSF Lift Bridge, Prescott, Wisconsin
See also
*
List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota
*
References
External links
Current bridge
Point Douglas Draw Bridge at MSP Bridges
Previous bridge
*
*{{Structurae, id=20019302, title=Prescott Bridge (1922)
Road bridges in Minnesota
Vertical lift bridges in the United States
Vertical lift bridges in Minnesota
Bascule bridges in the United States
U.S. Route 10
Road bridges in Wisconsin
Bridges completed in 1922
Bridges completed in 1990
Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System
Great River Road
Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota
Historic American Engineering Record in Wisconsin
Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States
Former toll bridges in Minnesota
Former toll bridges in Wisconsin
Towers in Wisconsin
Steel bridges in the United States
Girder bridges in the United States
Bridges over the St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)