The Highway 12 bridge is located just downstream from the Stump Lake Dam, sometimes known locally as the Otter Tail Power Dam. The fast moving cold water is ideal habitat for large fish. Based on the activity around the bridge, large numbers of people appear to take advantage of this location.

The bridge itself is an attempt to make an attractive structure out of an otherwise routine bridge. The bridge features broken wall concrete accents and ornamental iron railings. Unfortunately, form carried more weight than function, and the bridge needs to be updated to meet current standards. The key problem is the railings. They are simply bolted to the deck. This might hold up a pedestrian, but it offers little resistance to a speeding car. In addition, the open bottom of the railing allows snow that is kicked up from a snowplow to go through the railing and into the river. That is not good since it pollutes the water and adds salt. What is needed is a large concrete railing, or at least a healthy sized curb.

An interesting detail is that the construction records and NBI database state that the bridge was built and open before the end of 1975, yet the bridge plate has 1976. I do not know why there is a difference in the dates, but I suspect that the bridge may have been open ahead of schedule, or possibly open before final construction details were completed.