The Million Dollar bridge was built in 1908 by the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad Company. Building this was a technological feat of the time. It was used to transport copper ore across the Copper River until the Kennecott Copper Mine closed in 1938 They changed to an highway bridge in 1958 because highways were becoming more important
In 1964 there was an earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale. The bridge sustained substantial damage. From 1973 to 1975 the bridge was temporarly repaired by building a ramp from pier 3 to the fallen pier 4 as shown in the picture above.