CRandIC - Cedar River Bridge

Here is what the bridge looked like on June 14th 2008 during the flood. The bridge is currently undergoing reconstruction.

From the Gazetteonline:

CEDAR RAPIDS - Work has begun on a $7 million project to replace the CRANDIC Railway bridge swept away by flooding on the Cedar River last June.

Dondlinger & Sons Construction of Wichita, Kans., this week began bringing heavy equipment and supplies to the area where the bridge's support piers will be built in the first phase of construction. The actual construction work will begin in earnest in about two weeks, according to Jeff Woods, marketing manager for the Cedar Rapids-based CRANDIC Railway. A contractor has not been selected for the bridge deck portion of the project, which will be bid separately.

The new 795-foot bridge will be at the same elevation as the old bridge, but the bottom of the bridge will be about two feet higher, giving more clearance in future floods.

"Whereas the old bridge had lots of steel above the deck, this will have nothing," Woods added. Completion of the project is expected by the end of June. It is expected to resemble the existing Union Pacific Railroad bridge over the Cedar River at C Street SW.

The old bridge was 105 years old when record floods on the Cedar River tore away its deck and part of the structure, even though the deck was weighted down by rail cars filled with stone. That bridge was a vital link for the short-line railroad, which owns about 100 miles of track in four counties.

Here is a video of the reconstruction...

http://www.kcrg.com/younews/38134514.html