Highway 101 originally crossed the Mississippi River just upstream at the bridge currently supporting Country Road 42 (however, the Country Road 42 bridge has been replaced since it was marked as 101). MN-DOT desired to build a bypass around Elk River and connect 101 directly to US-169 to allow US-169 traffic an easy path to I-94. The result was a 2 lane bridge built in 1967. That was a steel plate girder bridge. A new concrete girder bridge was put down alongside the 1967 structure in 1993, and the 1967 structure became dedicated to northbound traffic. This left the odd situation of one bridge having steel girders, while the twin had concrete girders. The 1967 bridge was replaced in 2001 with another concrete girder bridge that really does look like a twin to the 1993 bridge.
Interestingly, the southbound span has an on-ramp that is a bridge, and it joins the main southbound span over water. MN-DOT considers this on-ramp to be a separate bridge, and it has its own NBI (National Bridge Inventory) number. The last photo shows this ramp as it joins the main southbound span.
The MN-101 river crossing is known as the Betty Adkins Bridge due to a 1995 act of the Minnesota state legislature. Betty Adkins was a 12-year state senator from St. Michael. She was known for bouncing back from several major setbacks and tragedy in her life.
The top two photos were taken in the spring of 2005 during high water, while the remaining photos were taken in the fall of 2006. The upper photo shows three piers in the water, and the fourth pier right at the edge of the water. The fall 2006 photos show 3 piers in the water, and the fourth pier high and dry. The dry area under the bridges in the photos below was completely under water during the spring high water.
