MN-DOT permanently closed the DeSoto Bridge on March 20, 2008. This page contains a collection of photos taken after the bridge was closed, but before the bridge was removed. This was one last chance to get up close and personal with such a graceful structure before it was erased from history.

The DeSoto Bridge was removed during September and October of 2008. The project started with the removal of the concrete deck. Next, the metal parts were slowly cut away with torches and lowered to barges using a pair of track cranes sitting on barges. The last pieces of the bridge to be demolished, the two piers, were completed on October 16, 2008.