Rating:
4 votes

Blatnik Bridge

Douglas County, Wisconsin, and St. Louis County, Minnesota
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Photos 

Oblique View

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in June 2006

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Steel through arch bridge over St. Louis Bay on I-535/US 53 between Duluth and Superior
Location
Duluth, Douglas County, Wisconsin, and St. Louis County, Minnesota
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1961; rehabilitated 1994
Design
Steel through arch
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 600.1 ft.
Total length: 1,140.1 ft.
Deck width: 58.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 19.3 ft.
Also called
John A. Blatnik Bridge (official name)
High Bridge (original name)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+46.74667, -92.09917   (decimal degrees)
46°44'48" N, 92°05'57" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/568809/5177406 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Superior
Inventory number
BH 34744 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2011)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 48.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
41,293

Categories 

Arch (9,668)
Built 1961 (145)
Built during 1960s (1,270)
Douglas County, Wisconsin (22)
Duluth, Minnesota (46)
Have street view (12,851)
Minnesota (1,125)
Navigable waterway (1,548)
Open (29,394)
 Owned by state (10,152)
Span length 500-1000 feet (322)
St. Louis County, Minnesota (89)
State line crossing (547)
Steel through arch (178)
Suspended Deck Through Truss (22)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,272)
US 53 (3)
Wisconsin (836)

Update Log 

  • March 19, 2011: New photos from Matthew Lohry
  • August 2, 2010: New Street View added by Jason Smith
  • June 5, 2008: Changed name
  • February 27, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning: Added Minnesota Information

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
  • Jason Smith - JDSmith77 [at] gmx [dot] net
  • Matt Lohry
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Comments 

Blatnik Bridge
Posted February 10, 2013, by Cap't Tom Mackay (Ret.) (oriskany65 [at] msn [dot] com)

The view to the right from the Blatnik Bridge is of Superior Bay.

Blatnik Bridge
Posted December 18, 2011, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

See the related bridge just added.

Blatnik Bridge
Posted December 18, 2011, by Atmo

I find it a bit interesting that while a page exists for the Blatnik Bridge here, there's still nothing on the Bong Bridge just a bit farther south.