A succession of bridges connecting the cities of Houghton, Hancock, and points beyond have crossed the Portage Canal for well over a century. The Portage Lake Lift Bridge, constructed between 1958 and 1960, replaced a 1905 steel swing span that had itself replaced a wooden predecessor. Designed by consulting engineers Hazelet and Erdal from Chicago, the double-decker lift bridge span would carry automobile and pedestrian traffic on the top deck, with trains (and later snowmobiles) crossing on the lower level. To accommodate the passage of large ships through the Portage Canal, the central span could be lifted some one hundred feet above the water.

Following more than a year of construction alongside the old swing span, the lift bridge was opened to automobile traffic in December 1959. Additional work to prepare the bridge for full operation, however, continued well into the following year. The bridge was officially dedicated amid great fanfare on June 25, 1960.