The Sauk Rapids Bridge is one of three deck truss bridges to cross the Mississippi River. That is, a big metal truss holds the bridge up, but the big metal truss is under the roadway rather than above the roadway. This type of bridge is considered to be obsolete due to being very hard to inspect and being of a non-redundant design. This is the same type of structure as the I-35W bridge that collapsed in August, 2007. In the case of the Sauk Rapids Bridge, it closed on October 25, 2007, and it is planned to be removed before the end of 2007.

Losing the Sauk Rapids Bridge is yet another blow to historic preservation. This is a visually interesting bridge of a type that we will not see built again in the future. Motorists, however, have been looking forward to the new bridge for years. The old bridge is narrow, it has no shoulders, only one sidewalk, and it is very busy for a 2-lane bridge.

This bridge was once MN-15. A new MN-15 bypass was built about a mile upstream, complete with a freeway style bridge over the Mississippi River. This bridge later carries 1st Street S. The new bridge will connect 9th Ave N, and land on 2nd Street N in downtown Sauk Rapids.