Washington Avenue Bridge

The Washington Avenue Bridge carries County Road 122 and the METRO Green Line light rail across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and connects the East Bank and West Bank portions of the University of Minnesota campus. The bridge has two decks, with the lower deck designated for motor vehicle traffic and light rail trains and the upper deck used for pedestrians and bicycles. It is a utilitarian structure with simple architecture, but it has cultural significance because thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors walk across it every day.

Most users of the bridge get across it using some mode other than a personal automobile. Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic counts from 2007 show the bridge carried about 28,400 vehicles per day at that time. However, multiple counts from 2009 indicate the bridge carried a total of 71,400 people per day when other modes were also included.