An executive summary of the inspection report was released on January 15, 2008, questioning whether the bridge was capable of sustaining its 40-ton posted capacity, and calling for a load analysis to be performed immediately.

The main span is composed of arches, girders, beams, stringers, and roadway, offering four lanes of traffic plus twelve feet of mixed use pedestrian and bike path.

[7] Wagon drivers would get onto the bridge in downtown Hastings, make one complete circle on the spiral, and then cross the river.

Engineer Oscar Claussen, grain elevator owner John C. Meloy, legislator Lawrence H. Johnson, and local inventor B.D Caldwell were all claimed to have conceived the idea.

The south approach, connecting Silby street to the crossing, consisted of the 385-foot long spiral ramp and a straight 120-foot set of spans.

[7] A ferry operated by William Felton carried traffic across the river from 1854 until the spiral bridge opened.