From street level, this bridge is hardly noticeable as a river crossing. It is just another small bump in the road as one travels from one side of Grand Rapids to the other side. It is amazing at how wrong that first impression can be. What we really have here is a fantastic example of the 1930s era concrete arch bridge. While this bridge does not have the art deco features of a bridge like the MN-210 river bridge in Brainerd, it is nevertheless nice to see a unique bridge from that era stills surviving today.

The bridge started life as a 2 lane bridge. The bridge was torn down to its arches and rebuilt as a four lane bridge in 1977. That does make the bridge look a little awkward given that the new deck is so much wider than the arches.

The City of Brainerd appears to be hiding their 1930s gem of a bridge. That is not the case here in Grand Rapids. The paper mill and the Blandin Foundation have set up walkways, overlooks, and paths along the river to allow visitors to get up close to the mighty Mississippi.

You can tell from the long shadows that these photographs were taken very late in the day. I was running out of daylight, and I had only one angle where I could shoot pictures. I hope to return one day and take a bunch more photos of this small-scale architectural marvel.