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Ottawa Railroad Bridge

La Salle County, Illinois
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Photos 

West View From South Bank Of The Illinois River.

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

History of the Bridge 

Written by Wayne DeMunn

Built for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) over the Illinois River at Ottawa in 1898 by the King Bridge Company. In 1932 the center span was reconstructed and retrofitted with a Waddell and Harrington Engineers 'Vertical Lift'.

The C B & Q later became the Burlington Northern Railroad. At some point they sold off this portion of their line and the last known owner as of 2009 was the Illinois Railway Net.

The Black & White photos above were taken by Martin Stupich, HAER photographer, 1988.

The Illinois & Michigan Canal was designated a National Heritage Corridor in 1984. The Historic Engineering Record or HAER was compiled by the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior. The C, B & Q Bridge over the Illinois River at Ottawa, IL was documented between 1985-1988. Gray Fitzsimons was the Historian of record in 1985, who compiled the history and documentation, specifications, etc for this bridge that you can find on this page.

Source: Library of Congress website; American Memory; Item Title: Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Illinois River Bridge, Ottawa, La Salle, IL.

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Illinois River on Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in Ottawa
Location
Ottawa, La Salle County, Illinois
History
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Bridge is a multi-span railroad bridge built in 1898 by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
Builder
- King Bridge Co. of Cleveland, Ohio
Design
Multi span through truss Vertical lift bridge. Three of the spans are fixed steel Pratt through trusses with pin connections. The Main Span is a Verticle Lift, Pratt through truss with pin connections. A number of timber approach spans are locted at the north and south ends of the bridge. Asher sandstone piers support each of the truss spans.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 200.0 ft.
Total length: 800.0 ft.
Also called
CB&Q Railroad Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.34168, -88.84697   (decimal degrees)
41°20'30" N, 88°50'49" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/345468/4578333 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Ottawa
Inventory number
BH 36831 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (3,822)
Built 1898 (161)
Built during 1890s (1,556)
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (130)
HAER documented (782)
Illinois (2,500)
Illinois River (46)
King Bridge Co. (161)
La Salle County, Illinois (50)
Movable (1,356)
Open (28,322)
 Ottawa, Illinois (4)
Owned by railroad (4,053)
Pratt through truss (3,166)
Pratt truss (5,660)
Railroad (4,084)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,484)
Through truss (9,212)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,805)
Truss (23,578)
Vertical lift (275)

Update Log 

  • February 1, 2012: New photos from Gene Smania
  • November 15, 2011: Updated by Wayne DeMunn: Bridge History, Length of Bridge and Spans, Descriptions, Color Photo's.
  • November 14, 2011: Essay added by Wayne DeMunn
  • March 29, 2009: Updated by Kim Harvey: added GPS coordinates from terraserver
  • July 23, 2008: New photos from Kim Harvey
  • July 8, 2008: Updated by Kim Harvey: added category
  • July 7, 2008: Added by Kim Harvey

Sources 

Comments 

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