The Merriam Street bridge crosses the east channel of the Mississippi River between Main Street and Nicollet Island. The span was originally part of a 1887 multi-span bridge built by the King Iron and Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio which crossed the Mississippi at Broadway Avenue, a miles upstream from its present location. When the Broadway Avenue bridge was replaced in 1987, this span was saved, floated down the river on pontoons, and installed at Merriam Street for pedestrian and light vehicular use. The original open steel grating deck and wood-plank pedestrian walks have been replaced with a concrete deck, and short steel beam spans have been added to both ends to fit the bridge to its current location.