[2][3] The Northern Pacific Railway "A line" tracks once formed the southern boundary of the University of Minnesota East Bank campus.

The bridge is accessible from the west side, where there is a connection to the West River Parkway trail, and on the east side via a service road up to East River Parkway near the Mineral Resources Research Center.

The City of Minneapolis built a connection from the bridge to the U of M bicycle and pedestrian trail through Dinkytown in 2013.

As part of the construction of the new St. Anthony Falls (35W) Bridge approach, a culvert was installed to allow the non-motorized trail to continue west into downtown Minneapolis; this was completed in July 2014.

It formerly read North Coast Limited to advertise the Chicago to Seattle passenger train of that name.