Built: 1929-1930 Designed by: C.P. Turner and Thomas F. McGilvray Type: Bridge Maximum height: 227 feet / 69 meters Maximum length: 386 feet / 118 meters Location: Lake Avenue, Duluth, United States
T his is the big tourist attraction in Duluth. Designed to carry vehicular and pedestrian traffic over the entrance to Duluth Harbor, the aerial lift bridge was a compact solution to the problem of getting people and goods from one side to the other while allowing huge ships to also pass through the same patch of space. Because of urbanization on both sides of the channel, a traditional bridge was not possible as the approaches would have needed to be extremely long, reducing the utility of the structure. Until the bridge was built, the people of Duluth made do with ferries in the summer and temporary bridges in the winter when the port was frozen. The first bridge in this location was an aerial transfer bridge. This type of bridge has the same steel arch as a lift bridge, but instead of having a stable road surface moving up and down, it has a smaller platform that slides from one bank to the other suspended by a latticework of steel trusses. Aerial transfer bridges are exceedingly rare in North America, though not entirely unheard of in Europe. One had a cameo appearance in the 2000 British film "Billy Elliot." The bridge, itself, is owned and operated by the City of Duluth, but the land and water surrounding it is the property of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Occasionally people who live in Duluth have written to Glass Steel and Stone claiming that their bridge is the only one of its kind in the world. This is not true. There are a number of aerial lift bridges in operation around the world, including the port of Rotterdam in The Netherlands, and much closer to home -- in New Jersey's Meadowlands and other areas surrounding the Port of New York and New Jersey.
>When open, the bridge clearance is 138 feet. When closed, it is 15 feet.
>29 March, 1930 - The tug boat Essayons becomes the first vessel to pass beneath the operating lift bridge.
Mark Tingey
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 @ 10:50pm
Rating: Five stars. Many years ago I lived on the first house on the point after crossing the bridge. I also spent the night pumping water out of the basement the night the Edmunds Fitzgerald sank on the lake becuase of the storm. What a wonderful bridge and history it has!
Christian
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 @ 11:46am
Rating: Five stars. Louisville Kentucky has a lift bridge very similar to the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge over the Ohio River, although it is not as tall, and it carries rail traffic not street traffic.
Angela LaLonde
Friday, December 15th, 2006 @ 10:13am
Rating: Five stars. when i lived in duluth i used to go to the bridge to get my mind off of things. The view is so amazing. it can make even the sadest person have a smile.
Morgan Lintereur
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 @ 2:58am
Rating: Five stars. Once upon a lifetime, there was no Canal Park, just a mess of metal buildings, falling down factories and miscellaneous 'stuff' I lived in Superior, Wisconsin at the time. This was my favorite place to hang out. Lunch or dinner at Grandma's and a chance to watch the bridge in action. They certaily did a wonerful job turing it into a primo tourist attraction. Hopefully all this developmnt has been a good thing for the locals who make it their home as well as the tourists who 'spend and run' or worse, those who 'buy a place' to come and play on weekends. I now live on an island off the coast of Maine and still miss the big pond and those tourist-free days.
Jack Milinovich
Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 @ 11:21am
Every year visting the Duluth area one of the spots that I love to see is not only the lake front, but watching the ore boats come in under the lift bridge.
Dave
Friday, December 31st, 2004 @ 11:00am
Rating: Five stars. My family visited this site when I was about 7 years old. I remember standing underneath the bridge as it was descending, and feeling terrified that is was going to crush me. But, Dad said it would just fine, and, of course, it was. This is a really cool bridge, by the way! (And it does not crush people)
Rolf Achilles
August 21st, 2001
Chicago has two vertical lift bridges like Duluth. One bridge is called the Torrence Ave. bridge. It is by China Town. It opened for use in 1938 and spans 130 ft, is 58 ft wide, weighs 280 tons, and can be raised to a height of 155 ft above the Chicago River. The other bridge is at south Western Ave. and opened December 1942.
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New York, United States
Mark Tingey
Five stars.