For thirty-one years, automobile traffic crossed the Fairview railroad bridge in a dangerous arrangement that led to accidents, though none involved a train and no deaths were reported. Although a highway bridge had been discussed in the late 1930's, World War II interrupted the decision. In 1949, a serious effort began to fund construction of a bridge, and despite opposition from representatives and senators from the eastern part of the state, Hjalmer Nelson, senator from McKenzie County, introduced Senate Bill 157 to appropriate money for it. The original appropriation of $500,000 from the State Treasury was intended to match federal funds of the same amount, but preliminary estimates showed that this was insufficient. At the next legislative session, Representatives Halvor Rolfsrud and former Governor Arthur Link of McKenzie County, with four other members, introduced House Bill No: 732, appropriating $357,000 from highway construction funds. Although Highway Commissioner Severt W. Thompson opposed the bill, the legislature passed it, Governor Norman Brunsdale signed it, and the bridge was built. The crossing and bridge location, north of the present highway structure, was chosen for its geology and its alignment with Highway 93 on both the east and west sides. Steel came from United States Steel Corporation in Gary, Indiana, Locomotive Finished Material Company in Atchison, Kansas, and Kropp Forge Company in Cicero, Illinois; Kansas Structural Steel Company of Kansas City, Kansas, fabricated the steel members; John F. Beasley Construction Company of Chicago, Illinois, erected the superstructure; and Milton Rue Construction built the substructure. The bridge cost $1,463,219, about half from federal matching funds. It was a deck truss, one of two such designs in the state, basically a through truss with the deck on the top cord. It had five spans measuring 252 feet to 378 feet, plus three steel girder approach spans of 101 feet to 130 feet. The total length was 1,921 feet, the road width was 22 feet, and its construction used more than 3.8 million pounds of steel and 6,545 cubic yards of concrete. Over the years, its narrow road width made the design substandard, and it was replaced by the present structure in 1998.