The Long Meadow Bridge is part of what is known today as the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge. This bridge consisted of two sections. The northern section over Long Meadow Creek consists of a 5 section through-truss steel bridge. The southern section was a swing span that crossed the main river navigation channel of the Minnesota River. The swing span was removed shortly after the new Cedar Avenue Bridges opened in 1979. The river crossing opened in 1891, so the 1920 section is actually a replacement for an earlier span.

The Long Meadow Bridge still had value in that it offered a bridge to a large island in the middle of the river flats. This bridge was given to the City of Bloomington by the State of Minnesota in 1981, and was still open to automobile traffic as late as 1993. It remained open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic after it was closed to vehicle traffic. In the early 2000s, the bridge deck was declared to be unsafe. A local bicycle club passed the hat for donations, and purchased 60 sheets of plywood to lay down a new deck. The bridge was deemed unsafe again in 2002, and had to be barricaded off at each end.

Bicycle traffic was able to use the 5 span section to cross over to the island in the river, then cross the main channel using a narrow bridge that is suspended under the east span of the new bridge. When the Long Meadow Bridge was closed in 2002, it was no longer possible to cross the Minnesota River by bicycle between the airport and Shakopee.

There is a lot of interest in rebuilding the bridge over the secondary channel. For bicycles, the next nearest crossing leading to the south and east parts of the metro area is a 15 mile detour. The existing bridge is covered with lead paint, so it would have to be wrapped in plastic before being removed. The structure is so weak that you can put your fingers through the beams in places, so the spans would have to be reinforced before moving them to keep them from falling apart and dropping into the river. The cost to remove the bridge is estimated at $1-million. A new bicycle bridge might cost a million or two, while an automobile bridge could cost upwards of $5-million.

Update—In poking around the 2008 state budget bill, I found a line item allocating money for removal of the Long Meadow bridge. The line item is written such that any money left over from the removal project may be used to build a new regional trail bridge in the same location.

The photo above shows a display sign at the parking at the north end of the Long Meadow Bridge. This sign discusses the main channel swing span. The photo below shows the location of the swing span. Any and all evidence that it once existed has been obliterated, and brush now grows where its south abutment once stood.