The High Bridge

The High Bridge

Night Photo is the High Bridge (Blatnik Bridge)Day Photo is the Bong Bridge

We’ve had rain all day. It really poured this afternoon. That’s alright, we need it badly, and it will reduce our fire threat for the forests and woodlands.

For my readers who are not from Minnesota, I will explain that Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are “Twin Ports”. The cities are right across from each other, by Lake Superior and the St. Louis River. There are two bridges that cross between the two cities, The Bong Bridge (named for a fighter pilot from Hayward, WI that died in World War II) and The High Bridge, which was called the High Bridge, until about 20 years ago or so, when the name was changed to The John Blatnik Bridge, to honor our Duluth Congressman who was instrumental in getting the funding for the bridge.*(see note below) Now, most of us that are older than 40 still refer to it as “the high bridge”.

I crossed the “high bridge” on my lunch hour to meet our son, who works in Superior, and my husband for lunch. Scott usually comes to the Duluth side when lunching with me; however, Bob had a car appointment over there, so we decided to meet with him over there. The bridge gives a beautiful view of the city of Duluth, especially the hillside when coming from Superior to Duluth. It's an especially beautiful view at night. On the way to Superior there is a lot to see too, the ships, shipping, ore docks, river, etc. Both bridges are beautiful to be on when the weather is clear and dry. But both can be very treacherous when the weather is bad.

Before entering onto the bridge today there was a lighted sign that said “High winds on the bridge”. Whew, they weren’t kidding! We had a rainy day and with the rain, were blustery conditions. Now, I’m none too keen about driving that bridge anyhow, because it is rather high, but driving it in the wind was worse. Whenever I drive over there, all I can think about is that there are a lot of people who live in Superior or near Superior, that drive over that bridge every day to work in Duluth, (and I guess vise versa too). I always think how glad I am that I don’t have to drive over it on a daily basis. (There are three in our office who live in Superior). Now if the weather is bad, I might take the Bong Bridge because it’s longer, but down lower, however I’ve heard people say that bridge is no picnic either in bad weather. Today in taking the high bridge, it was foggy and not very pretty, the water was dark and murky. I had to concentrate on keeping the car on the road and bridge, rather than “sight see”.

I just want to repeat, I’m glad I don’t have to cross either bridge on a regular basis, especially in the winter!

Note: I'm adding to this post this morning because I was just reading in last week's Budgeteer a story about the High Bridge. It opened Dec. 2, 1961, after three years of construction. It replaced the Interstate Bridge, a toll bridge built in 1897 which had been damaged by ore boats several times. As I said, Congressman John Blatnik came up with the idea of the funding, after the Interstate Highway system was approved, he proposed that the interstate system fund the building of the bridge as an offshoot of the Interstate 35 Highway that would connect Laredo, Texas, with Duluth in the future (which it now does). When the bridge opened it offered drivers on both sides of the harbor the first chance of crossing the harbor uninterrupted by ships or trains. The bridge was renovated beginning in 1992. The restoration provided road shoulders and a center median for safety reasons.

The Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge - our other bridge crossing the harbor: This bridge is on US Hwy 2, followed the Blatnik opening in 1984 to replace the Arrowhead Bridge, which was built in 1927 and operated as a toll bridge until 1963. The highway department saved a portion of both the Interstate and the Arrowhead bridges, lowering them further into the water as boat launches and fishing piers to preserve some of their history.
- From The Budgeteer News, Duluth, MN