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Minnesota News
Mankato, Minn.

Once unwanted, historic bridge now pursued by suitors

The crumbling east abutment of the Kern Bridge
The crumbling east abutment of the Kern Bridge is seen in June 2019 along the Le Sueur River south of Mankato, Minn. The state Transportation Department announced last month it would accept letters of interest from cities and counties that might want to take possession of the bridge. Several have already expressed interest.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2019

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By Mark Fischenich, Mankato Free Press

For roughly 30 years, the Kern Bridge sat unused, unstable and unwanted.

But lovers of the elegant and unique engineering in the 1873 bowstring-arch bridge — the longest of its type remaining in America — never stopped trying to save it from collapse. Last year, funding was obtained to dismantle it and put it in storage in the hopes that someone somewhere might want to reassemble it as a pedestrian bridge.

Turns out there was.

"I've already heard from Watonwan County, Dakota County, Pelican Rapids, several others," said Lisa Bigham, a Mankato-based engineer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The department announced last month it would accept letters of interest from cities and counties that might want to take possession of the bridge, which carried traffic on a township road over the Le Sueur River until its closure in 1991.

Cranes lift both ends of the Kern Bridge
Cranes lift both ends of the Kern Bridge off of its abutments along the Le Sueur River south of Mankato Feb. 6.
Pat Christman | Mankato Free Press file

North Mankato, which is interested in placing the bridge across a pond in Benson Park, has already submitted its letter. And Mankato is expected to do the same after a City Council meeting.

Watonwan County is mulling the bridge for a creek crossing on a trail along County Road 4 south of St. James.

"They need a bridge for that, and it would be to help complete the trail system," Bigham told the Mankato Free Press.

The deadline to submit a letter is Aug. 31, so she expects there are others beyond the ones that called with questions.

"We're happy that we have so much interest," said Bigham, who was instrumental in finding funding to save the bridge before crumbling piers resulted in its collapse. "We should be able to find a good site."

Following the acceptance of formal applications later this year, a committee of engineers and historians will make the final decision based on a long list of criteria. A winner is to be picked in January.

Because of the regulatory hurdles related to the federal funding and the historic nature of the bridge, which was on the National Register of Historic Places, the bridge is not expected to rise again until 2024.