BNSF - Burlington Bridge
Photos
Overall View Of Bridge, Protective Pier And Mississippi River. View To Northeast
Photo by Clayton B. Fraser, August 1985, for HAER
View photos at Library of Congress
BH Photo #122597
Description
http://www.bnsf.com/media/news-releases/2010/june/2010-06-10... and http://www.joc.com/rail-intermodal/bnsf-launches-major-burli... and http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/BNSF-bridge-dedication-10131... for information on replacement projectFacts
- Overview
- Through truss swing bridge over Mississippi River on BNSF Railway in Burlington
- Location
- Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, and Henderson County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by a new bridge 2011-2012
- History
- Built 1893; Replaced 2011-2012.
- Builder
- - George S. Morison of New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Railroads
- - Amtrak (AMTK)
- BNSF Railway (BNSF)
- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CBQ)
- Design
- One pin-connected swing span and six pin-connected Whipple through truss spans.
Swing span being replaced by through-truss lift span of 307.5 feet. In addition to the lift span, one fixed span on the east side was replaced with three smaller, temporary spans until completion of the lift span. - Also called
- CBQ - Burlington Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.79854, -91.09205 (decimal degrees)
40°47'55" N, 91°05'31" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/660953/4518145 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Burlington
- Inventory number
- BH 37319 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- April 13, 2021: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- June 11, 2017: New photo from Dana and Kay Klein
- May 1, 2013: Updated by John Marvig: Updated Design of main span and lost date
- October 15, 2012: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Replacement bridge completed, scheduled for dedication 18 Oct 2012; bridge updated to "No Longer Exists"
- April 4, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Amtrak", "Navigable waterway", "HAER documented"
- October 2, 2011: New photos from Quinn Phelan
- November 10, 2010: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Bridge in process of replacement; updated to reflect construction
- June 13, 2010: Updated by Nathan Holth: Updated bridge type and GPS.
- August 26, 2008: Added by J.R. Manning
Related Bridges
- BNSF - Burlington Bridge (New) (Successor)
- CBQ - First Burlington Bridge (Predecessor)
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- HAER IA-20 - Burlington Bridge
- Nathan Holth
- Demolition of Approach Spans News Article
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- Quinn Phelan - qphelan [at] earthlink [dot] net
- Wikipedia
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Douglas Butler
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Geoff Hubbs
Comments
Saturday, Jan. 29 demolition operations were taking place on this bridge. Apparently something went wrong and there was an unplanned explosion. No injuries were reported but the BNSF line was closed for a few hours because of it. The Amtrak California Zephyr was one train which was detoured.
Photos of work on the new vertical lift span on the BNSF Burlington Mississippi River bridge.
Answered my own question. Looks like BNSF's replacing the bridge's approach spans, and replacement of the swing span with a lift span is in the works too.
http://www.bnsf.com/media/news-releases/2010/june/2010-06-10...
I wonder what type of span they’re going to replace it with? IIRC, an all-new rail bridge across the upper Mississippi hasn’t been built since the early 1960s, and most of the other low-clearance bridges they simply replaced the swing span with a lift span.
Six span pin-connected Whipple truss bridges plus a swing span from the 1800s? Boring... these are a dime a dozen! Must be hundreds of these around... What's that you say, you want me to list some of the other examples? Sorry, I can't think of any right now... but there must be hundreds more, right? That being the case, LETS TEAR THEM ALL DOWN NOW!!!!
Alright, dripping sarcasm aside, BNSF Railroad with the cooperation and support of our wonderful history loving Coast Guard, is beginning project to demolish and replace the Whipple truss spans of this bridge. And since we live in the 21st Century where the only thing we recycle is Coca Cola bottles, I doubt the Whipple truss spans will be moved onto local roads or non-motorized trails as was done in decades past.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ia/des-moines/burlington-rail/
The 1893 rebuild (which recently was lost) was a George S. Morison project. HAER #NE-2 has a section on the bridge as well as a nice set of drawings of a number of Morison rail bridges.