Fort Madison Bridge
Photos
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Swing Span from Northwest This bridge is a major river span and had, at the time of its construction, the longest and heaviest electrified swing span on the Mississippi River. The bridge superstructure was built by American Bridge Company, one of the largest bridge companies in American history. Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Long Shot From East Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Long Shot From Northwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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West Approach Spans, From Northwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Swing Span From Northwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Swing Span From Northwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Railroad Approach From West Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Barrel View At Railroad Level, From West Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Middle Of Swing Span, From Southwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Detail Of Drive Gears, From Southwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Detail Of Drive Gears, From Southwest Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Detail Of Drive Gears, From West Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Connections At Top Of Swing Span, From East Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Looking East Along Top Of Truss Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
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Control Booth Interior, From West Photo by Joe Elliott, Summer 1995, for HAER |
Map
- Google Maps
- Google Street View (if available)
- Yahoo! Maps
- Bing Maps
- MSR Maps
- OpenStreetMap
Facts
- Overview
- Toll double-decker through truss swing bridge over the Mississippi River on IA 2/IL 9/BNSF Railroad at Fort Madison
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1927
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York
- Union Bridge & Construction Co.
- Design
- Swing Baltimore through truss
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 525.3 ft.
Total length: 3,580.2 ft.
Deck width: 21.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.5 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on August 27, 1999
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.62925, -91.29887 (decimal degrees)
40°37'45" N, 91°17'56" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/643869/4498992 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Fort Madison
- Inventory numbers
- NRHP 99001035 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
IA 33280 (Iowa bridge number)
IL 034-9902 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 13818 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 08/2008)
- Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 6.0 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2007)
- 3,170
Update Log
- September 10, 2008: New photos from J.R. Manning
- May 1, 2008: Updated by David B. Haun: Corrected Other Location
Sources
- HAER IA-62 - Fort Madison Bridge
- David B. Haun
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
Comments
Here are some views of the BNSF swing bridge at Fort Madison, Iowa showing most of the overall length, a shot looking from Iowa towards Illinois of the roadway and superstructure and a couple of shots in the open position. This is the largest double deck road/rail swing bridge in North America.
