Hennepin Avenue Bridge

For the original bridge opened in 1855, see Hennepin Avenue Bridge (1855).

Hennepin Avenue Bridge
Hennepin Avenue Bridge in 2005.
Coordinates	44°59′07″N 93°15′50″W
Carries	6 lanes of Hennepin Avenue (CSAH 52)
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Official name	Father Louis Hennepin Bridge
Maintained by	Hennepin County
ID number	27636
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Total length	316 metres (1,037 ft)
Width	41 metres (135 ft)
Longest span	190 metres (620 ft)
Clearance below	11 metres (36 ft)
History
Designer	HNTB Corporation
Construction cost	$28.6 million
Opened	1990
Location

The Hennepin Avenue Bridge is the structure that carries Hennepin County State Aid Highway 52, Hennepin Avenue, across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at Nicollet Island. Officially, it is the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge, in honor of the 17th-century explorer Louis Hennepin, who was the first European to see the Saint Anthony Falls, a short distance downriver. It is the fourth bridge on the site.

History

Location

The bridge crosses from the west bank of the Mississippi River to Nicollet Island. Another smaller bridge crosses from the island to the east bank. Three previous bridges had been on the location, two of which were suspension bridges, while a third—which existed nearly a century—was composed of steel arch spans. The original crossing, which opened as a toll bridge on January 23, 1855, was the first permanent span across the Mississippi. Other bridges were completed in 1876 and 1888.

Design

The bridge was designed by Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergerndoff. The bridge could have been shorter, but twenty feet were added to the towers to avoid a squat look.

Two 150-foot-tall towers hold up the two 1,037-foot spans.

Construction

Some 900 tons of steel cable, more than 5,900 feet, were ordered from Bethlehem Steel Corp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Johnson Bros. Corp. of Litchfield, Minnesota did the work on the suspension cables.

During construction, foundations of the 1855 bridge and 1870 bridge were uncovered and documented by the Minnesota Historical Society.

One lane was opened in August of 1989.

In June 1990, a month before the schedule completion of the bridge, Hennepin County spent $16,550 ($38,597 in 2023) to perform additional stress tests on the bridge, not wanting a repeat of the Golden Gate Bridge 50th anniversary celebrations where unexpectedly large crowds caused the deck of the bridge to significantly sad. Officials banned traffic-closing events and large crowds from the bridge in December 1990, finding that large crowds combined with dancing could cause unacceptable levels of stress.

Originally budgeted at $25 million, the bridge was completed for $28.6 million.

In popular media

The bridge appears in the 1992 film Crossing the Bridge.

See also

• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota
• List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River

References

• Costello, Mary Charlotte (2002). Climbing the Mississippi River Bridge by Bridge, Volume Two: Minnesota. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications. ISBN 0-9644518-2-4.
• "Father Louis Hennepin Bridge". Highways, Byways, and Bridge Photography. johnweeks.com. Retrieved November 12, 2012.

External links

• Father Louis Hennepin Bridge at Structurae
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MN-18, "Steel Arch Bridge, Hennepin Avenue spanning west channel of Mississippi River, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN", 43 photos, 34 data pages, 3 photo caption pages of previous bridge