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Elizabeth Dunbar

The long history of the Stillwater Lift Bridge

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March 25, 2011: Sen. Amy Klobuchar talks on MPR's All Things Considered about why she is sponsoring legislation in the Senate to allow a new bridge to be built.

March 18, 2011: Gov. Mark Dayton endorses plan for a new four-lane bridge, tours the Stillwater Lift Bridge with Bachmann.

March 1, 2011: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann introduces legislation to bypass federal environmental restrictions for the building of a new bridge at Stillwater.

Jan. 19, 2011: The Minnesota Department of Transportation proposes tolls to help pay for a new highway bridge to replace the Stillwater Lift Bridge.

Oct. 15, 2010: The National Park Service announces that a new four-lane bridge over the St. Croix can't be built without fundamentally changing the river's wild and scenic qualities, and that doing so would violate federal law.

March 11, 2010: In a victory for environmentalists, a federal judge rules that the federal government violated its own rules in approving the design for a new bridge.

Nov. 20, 2006: The federal government signs off on the environmental impact study for a new four-lane bridge over the St. Croix.

June 5, 2007: The Sierra Club sues the National Park Service to stop construction of a new bridge. The environmental group argued the park service violated its own rules to ensure protection of the St. Croix.

2005: The National Park Service gives the green light for building a new four-lane, freeway-style bridge over the St. Croix River.

1972: The St. Croix becomes a designated Wild and Scenic Riverway.

1968: Congress passes the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, legislation that was co-authored by then-Sen. Walter Mondale, D-Minn. The St. Croix was one of the original eight rivers protected by the law.

1931: Lift bridge spanning the St. Croix River between Wisconsin and Stillwater, Minn., is built.

1837: A treaty opens the area to settlement by Euro-Americans.