Atchison Swing Bridge
Photo
From The Railroad Gazette's "English Versus American Bridges", published 1874
Public Domain: Published Prior to 1923
View this photo at books.google.com
BH Photo #348695
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Post through truss bridge over Missouri River on Road & Railroads
- Location
- Atchison, Atchison County, Kansas
- Status
- Replaced by a new bridge
- History
- Built 1875; Replaced ca. 1900
- Builder
- - American Bridge Works of Chicago, Illinois
- Railroads
- - Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF)
- Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (RI; CRIP; ROCK)
- Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP; MoPac)
- Union Pacific Railroad (UP)
- Design
- Post through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 364.0 ft.
Total length: 1,154.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.56061, -95.11300 (decimal degrees)
39°33'38" N, 95°06'47" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/318476/4381123 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Atchison East
- Inventory number
- BH 70819 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Related Bridges
- BNSF - Atchison Swing Bridge (Successor)
Comments
1) The bridge has long been replaced.
2) The Mississippi, Missouri (to a lesser extent than the others.), and Ohio Rivers are the most heavily used commercial waterways in the country.
Graph source: https://www.nap.edu/read/21763/chapter/4#25
Nathan:
A lot of people would be surprised to see a movable bridge in Kansas. The Missouri River is still considered navigable at this point. In fact, it is considered navigable all the way upstream to Sioux City, Iowa.
Thus, there are a few movable bridges over the Missouri River downstream from Sioux City on towards St Louis. This includes a couple of bridges on the Kansas stretch of the Missouri River.
Otherwise, Kansas does not generally have movable bridges except for some of the Kansas River bridges which were equipped with flood jacks.
It looks the railway swinging drawbridge is still in good condition. I thought Kansas didn’t had a drawbridge because it’s the Midwest. It’s rare to see a drawbridge in Kansas.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/atchison/atchison-swing/
Yes, the original one has been replaced. The current swing bridge was built around 1900 I believe. As far as I know the current bridge is still in operating condition.