[5] Beginning August 1, 2005, the Minnesota Department of Transportation closed the bridge to perform substantial repairs at a cost of $5 million provided by Congress.

The project included renovating the tender's house so that it would conform to modern safety standards while maintaining historical preservation.

In July 2008 a truck carrying lumber exceeded the height clearance of the bridge and struck its structure as it tried to cross.

The idea to build a physical model of the Stillwater Lift Bridge was undertaken in an effort to enlist the assistance of the disabled community, so as to make it easier for everyone to visualize and clearly understand the project.

Everything on the model was labeled with both large text and Braille to enable people with low vision to understand the plans for the bridge.

[10] In addition, the bridge had been deemed "structurally deficient" by inspectors, receiving a sufficiency rating of 32.8 on a 100-point scale, as of June 23, 2008.

[11] Because of the bridge's design, it was considered "fracture critical"; there was no built-in redundancy to prevent the entire structure from collapsing if one component fails.