Prescott Drawbridge
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, with the Point Douglas park area of Denmark Township, Minnesota. This is the only highway drawbridge in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area with active traffic. It was completed in 1990 and replaced a rare regional example of a Waddell & Harrington vertical-lift bridge completed in 1922 that operated as a toll bridge from 1923 to 1946.[1] The environmental impact statement, published in 1979, considered a higher level fixed bridge at this location.[2]
Prescott Drawbridge | |
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Coordinates | 44°44′56″N 92°48′17″W |
Carries | US 10 |
Crosses | St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota) |
Locale | Prescott, Wisconsin and Denmark Township, Minnesota |
Official name | Prescott Highway Bridge |
Other name(s) | Prescott Drawbridge |
ID number | 82010 |
Characteristics | |
Design | steel girder with double-leaf bascule draw span |
Total length | 672 feet (205 m) |
Width | 54 feet (16 m), 4 lanes |
Height | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
History | |
Opened | 1990 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 13000/day |
Location | |
Adjacent to the road bridge, the BNSF Railway St. Croix Subdivision crosses the St. Croix river on a Vertical-lift bridge.
Gallery
- The 1922–1990 vertical lift bridge
- Aerial view of the 1990 bridge and adjacent BNSF Railway vertical-lift bridge
- BNSF Lift Bridge, Prescott, Wisconsin
See also
References
- Beeler, Mary Cotter; Ahlgren, Dorothy Eaton (1996). A History of Prescott, Wisconsin: A River City and Farming Community on the St. Croix and Mississippi. United States: Prescott Area Historical Society.
- Administrative Action Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Trunk Highway 10 in Washington County, Minnesota and Pierce County, Wisconsin: From H.T. 61 in Denmark Township, Minnesota to One-half Mile East of Jct. Highways 29 and 10 in Oak Grove Township, Wisconsin (Report). United States: Wisconsin Department of Transportation. 1979.
External links
Current bridge
Previous bridge
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. WI-61, "Prescott Bridge, Spanning St. Croix River on U.S. Highway 10, Prescott, Pierce County, WI", 25 photos, 42 data pages, 1 photo caption page
- Prescott Bridge (1922) at Structurae