The Wabasha Street Bridge is a segmental bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota , United States. It was named Wabasha Street Freedom Bridge in 2002, to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks . It actually consists of two separate bridges, one for northbound and one for southbound traffic. The use of a concrete segmental box girder bridge provided a construction advantage because no falsework needed to be built beneath the bridge.
13-408: The bridge opened to traffic in 1998; some decorative elements were not completed until late 2001. It was built by Lunda Construction Company and was designed by Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson & Associates, Inc. The new bridge replaced an earlier structure that was built in 1889. The new bridge was built with pedestrians in mind. It features 11-foot-wide (3.4 m) sidewalks, six overlooks at
26-580: A proclamation on May 13, 2013, temporarily renaming the bridge "Wabasha Street Freedom to Marry Bridge" and ordered dozens of rainbow flags to be flown on the bridge. Completed in 1890, the second bridge was an iron cantilever deck-truss bridge, which was an advanced engineering feat at the time. That bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Unfortunately, that bridge had increasing problems with repair and maintenance because of its age, and after city engineers assessed
39-781: Is a vertical-lift bridge that spans the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota , United States. It is one of only three vertical-lift bridges along the Mississippi River, along with the Hastings Rail Bridge in Hastings, Minnesota , and the Wabash Bridge in Hannibal, Missouri . It was designed by Waddell & Harrington and built in 1913. In 1925, the north end of the bridge
52-704: Is echoed in the ornamental color of the overlooks. The new bridge has won several awards, including the Federal Highway Administration 1998 Excellence in Highway Design Award and the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers 2001 Seven Wonders of Engineering in Minnesota award. The pedestrian walkways are on the outside of the bridge. There is a gap of 8.7 feet (2.7 m) between the two bridge decks, between
65-645: The Chicago Great Western Railroad, which later became part of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company . The Robert Street Bridge , built later in 1926, had to be carefully engineered around the railroad bridge. In April 1997, high water on the Mississippi River reached the bottom of the span. The Union Pacific Railroad spotted a train of hopper cars laden with rocks on the bridge to help anchor it and keep it from being washed away. In 2021, Union Pacific proposed demolishing
78-740: The Stearns County Courthouse in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1920 and provided structural engineering services for the Saint Paul Union Depot in 1923. In 1926, they completed the design of the Robert Street Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The bridge, a rainbow arch design, had several challenges that resulted in its unusual form. The bridge had to reach Kellogg Boulevard at street level at
91-647: The chief engineer for the Great Northern Railway under James J. Hill , and Wesley E. King (1879–1959), a civil and structural engineer. Toltz Engineering Company participated in the design of the Como Park Conservatory in 1915. A staff architect, Roy Childs Jones, completed the Hamm Building in 1920. In 1919, Beaver Wade Day (1884–1931) joined the firm, and it was renamed to Toltz, King and Day. The firm designed
104-449: The condition of the old bridge, the decision was made to replace the bridge. The first Wabasha Street Bridge was completed in 1859 and was known as the "Saint Paul Bridge". It was a toll bridge until 1874 when West Saint Paul was annexed into Saint Paul. TKDA Toltz, King & Day was an architectural and engineering firm in Minnesota, which is now TKDA. The firm was founded in 1910 by Maximilian Toltz (1857–1932), formerly
117-464: The firm in 1959, after King's death. A number of its works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places . Projects designed by Toltz, King & Day, or its successor TKDA, include: Donated papers of the firm are stored and available at the University of Minnesota. St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge The St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge
130-490: The pier locations, and a stairway down to Raspberry Island . The color scheme of the bridge was also planned to reflect the architectural heritage of Saint Paul, with a soft buff color (the color of sandstone ) to reflect the colors used in many downtown Saint Paul buildings. The color of terracotta roofs in the city was used to select the color of the railings, and the green patina of the Saint Paul Cathedral
143-505: The southbound bridge and the northbound bridge. In July 2011, a man jumped over the inner railing, on the side not designated for pedestrians, thinking a landing was on the other side. Instead, he fell 55 feet (17 m) and landed on Raspberry Island underneath the bridge. He survived the fall but was critically injured. To mark the Minnesota Senate 's vote to allow same sex marriage in Minnesota , mayor Chris Coleman issued
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#1732801112436156-650: The top of the bluff, while providing enough clearance underneath for the raised platform at the Saint Paul Union Depot, the Chicago Great Western lift bridge , and the passage of riverboats on the river. The bridge was rebuilt in 1989 by the same firm, now known as TKDA. In 1956, the firm changed its name to Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson, and Associates, to acknowledge civil engineer Arndt Duvall, architect Gerald Anderson, and other architects and engineers. Arndt Duvall became president of
169-399: Was raised about 16 feet (4.9 m) to tie in with tracks that served the St. Paul Union Depot yard. The vertical-lift span has 105-foot-high (32 m) towers, and the electrical lift system was built with a possible 45-foot (14 m) elevation. However, by 1973, the amount of lift was reduced to 37 feet (11 m) because of aging of the equipment. The bridge was originally built by
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