Construction began: November 1979
Opened to traffic: Oct. 25, 1984
Cost: $70 million
Design life: 75 years
Length: 8,395 feet, 425 feet longer than the Blatnik Bridge
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Concrete: 82,000 cubic yards -- enough to build 26 miles of roadway 24 feet wide and 8 inches thick
Steel: 31,000 tons
Pilings: There are 54 miles of steel H piles driven 200 to 250 feet into the river bottom. Each piling is capable of supporting 150 tons.
Piers: 43, of which 37 stand in the water. The piers at the abutments are each 4 feet thick and contain 600 to 700 cubic yards of concrete and 40 to 60 pilings. The largest piers, located on each side of the center span, are each 14 feet thick and contain 5,500 cubic yards of concrete and 140 piles.
Center span arch: A 500-foot-long steel tied-arch 80 feet in height. The arch allows a 120-foot vertical clearance between the river and the bridge and provides ships with a 400-foot-wide navigational channel.
Replaced: The Arrowhead Bridge, which opened July 1927. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co. for $513,000, the bridge was operated as a toll bridge until March 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin jointly bought it for $200,000.
Named for: Major Richard I. Bong, ace fighter pilot in World War II from Poplar
