County Highway T is one of the main roads to cross a forest and wilderness in Douglas County between WI-35 and US-53. While this area was once a very remote wilderness, it has become much more popular over the past two decades as hundreds of miles of ATV trails have been developed, and the cost of lakefront property closer to the metro areas is pushing people to ever more remote areas of the state.

This 1976 structure is not likely to be the first bridge at this location. Rather, there was likely a structure from the 1910 to 1930 era in place. That bridge was probably a narrow one-lane bridge, possibly a through truss structure. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. At any rate, that structure would have been obsolete in about 40 years, leading to the construction of the current bridge.

The new Highway T bridge is a modern pre-stressed concrete girder bridge with a concrete deck. To save time, money, and materials, a rather basic metal rail was installed rather than a safer concrete railing. The metal rail is simply bolted into the bridge deck. The downside is that it allows bridge runoff and debris to end up in the river. One very interesting feature of this bridge is that it was built on a curve in the road with a curve in the bridge. Despite the bridge having a curve, the girders are straight and do not have a curved shape.

The photo above is a view looking down the length of the bridge deck towards the southeast from the center line on the north end of the structure.

The photo above is the bridge deck as seen from the northwest corner of the structure looking to the south. The photo below is a view looking west at the upriver face of the bridge from a boat landing on the south shore of the Saint Croix River. The view is looking directly into the evening sun, resulting in the bright reflection off the surface of the river.

The photo above is the west face of the bridge on the downriver side of the river crossing, as seen from the northwest corner of the structure. The photo below is the east face of the bridge on the upriver side of the river crossing, as seen from the northeast corner of the structure.