The City of St. Paul desired to build a signature bridge at this location when the old Wabasha Bridge became obsolete. One style that was seriously considered was a cable stayed bridge. While it would have been grand, it would have cost too much. The city settled on a pretty basic bridge style. Once the bridge was built, pastel green and pink trim and lighting as placed all over the bridge to jazz it up a bit. While the bridge opened to traffic in 1998, many of the decorative features and metalwork items were not completed until late 2001.

The National Bridge Inventory considers this to be two separate bridges. The northbound lanes on the east span are assigned NBI number 62555A, while the southbound lanes on the west span are assigned NBI number 62555B.

The photo above is a view of the bridge from the corner of Shepard Road and Ontario Street looking to the east. The Robert Street Bridge is visible in the background.

The photo above is a street level view of the Wabasha Bridge looking north from Wabasha Street near the intersection with Water Street. The photo below is the first of three photos showing a typical crossing of the Wabasha Street Bridge heading north. In this photo, we are just entering the south end of the bridge.

In the photo above, we continue our trip across the Wabasha Street Bridge. We have reached the halfway point in our crossing. We are just passing Raspberry Island and we are heading towards the curve in the bridge. In the photo below, we nearing the north end of the bridge at Kellogg Avenue.

These photos are two views from under the Wabasha Street Bridge. The photo above is the pier structure on the north side of Raspberry Island. The bridge has two stair towers made out of decorative metal, a pedestrian bridge between the towers, and a staircase leading down to Raspberry Island. We also notice that the bridge really is two parallel spans. The photo below is looking south across the west channel of the Mississippi River. The Raspberry Island Bridge is visible on the right side of the photo.

The photo above is a view of the Wabasha Street Bridge from near the Great Western Lift Bridge. The photo below is a view of the Wabasha Street Bridge from the parking lot located at the southeast end of the bridge.