‘The bridge between Duluth and Superior’

https://archive.org/details/56784AlCanTrailerTrek

“The bridge between Duluth and Superior” appears at just after the 1-minute mark in the circa-1957 short film Al-Can Trailer Trek, which promotes trailer traveling. After the quick bridge shot, zoom, it’s straight to International Falls.

This bridge is the Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge, which was replaced when the Blatnik Bridge opened in 1961. Parts of the Interstate Bridge still exist as a fishing pier on Rice’s Point.

Below is the six seconds of bridge film slowed down by the PDD AV squad.

1 thought on “‘The bridge between Duluth and Superior’”

  1. Paul Lundgren

    If you look at what’s left of the bridge today, or most of the old photos that show a side profile of the center of the bridge, it’s difficult to match it to the perspective shown in the film. So we turned to an expert, Jeffrey Lemke, to verify it is indeed the Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge. He provided the info below.

    The image is taken from the north side of the bridge on Rice’s Point looking toward Superior. The two columns sticking up in the middle of the image are the new concrete legs for the soon to be built Duluth-Superior High Bridge (not yet renamed for John A. Blatnik). The railroad portion of the affair was double track on top of the tall wooden piling. Straddling that on both sides were the lanes for pedestrian, horse, wagon, bicycle and motor vehicle traffic. So the vehicles we see are coming from Superior into Duluth, no doubt for vacationers. The railroad portion of the bridge was used by the Soo Line and the Duluth Superior street car system.

    Lemke offered this aerial photo by Clarence Sager dated Oct. 27, 1961 for a better view of the layout of the bridge. The view in this image is from the Superior side looking toward Duluth.

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