Boom Island Pedestrian Bridge
Description
This beautiful 8-panel pin-connected Pratt through truss bridge originally served as a railroad bridge for transporting trains between Nicollet Island and Boom Island during the days of the sawmill. The bridge was built in 1901, eight years after a fire wiped out the sawmill that existed at that time. This bridge features V-lacing on the top and bottom of the upper chords, as well as the sides of the verticals paralleling the portals. The portal bracing and sway bracing feature large lattice. The bridge's light construction reflects the early railroad days when trains were much lighter than today's monsters. This bridge has been nicely preserved in its original location and currently serves as a pedestrian link between Boom Island Park and Nicollet Island.Facts
- Overview
- Pratt through truss bridge over Back Channel of Mississippi River on Pedestrian trail
- Location
- Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota
- Status
- Open to pedestrians
- History
- Built 1901, Converted to pedestrian usage in 1987; Rehabilitated 2018
- Builders
- - Butler-Ryan Co. of St. Paul, Minnesota (Builder)
- Charles Frederick Loweth of Cleveland, Ohio (Designer)
- R.B. Tweedy (Chief Engineer)
- Railroads
- - Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)
- Chicago Great Western Railway (CGW)
- Wisconsin Central Railway (1897-1954) (WC)
- Design
- Pratt through truss
- Dimensions
-
Span length: 175.0 ft.
Total length: 175.0 ft.
Deck width: 19.0 ft.
- Also called
- Wisconsin Central Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +44.99069, -93.26554 (decimal degrees)
44°59'26" N, 93°15'56" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/479068/4981950 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Minneapolis South
- Inventory number
- BH 45221 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 3, 2018: Updated by Luke: Rehabilitated 2018
- April 19, 2015: New photos from John Marvig
- December 1, 2013: Updated by John Marvig: Added categories "Wisconn Central Railway", "Chicago Great Western Railway", "Chicago & North Western Railway"
- November 25, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
- February 13, 2013: New photos from John Marvig
- August 10, 2012: Updated by John Marvig: Added category "railroad"
- July 27, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added build date, builders, edited span length/wifth, added alt. name. and link to John Week's website
- December 30, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
- May 10, 2010: Added by Matthew Lohry
Sources
- Matt Lohry
- Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
- Luke
- John Weeks Highways, Byways, And Bridge Photography
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- MNHS - Bridge under construction
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
I bike across this bridge regularly and what it is not showing are the concrete K-rails on either side of the bridge that have been in place for some time now. Even the Park Patrol Officers can only cross on bike although although the 4 wheel version is visible 24 hours a day.
All of the folks that are shown in the street view don't seem to be scrambling to get out of the way, which indicates to me that it's a bicycle , or possibly a Segway...I don't see any shadows either; they're obscured by the blurry area around the camera.
I don't know about this bridge, but I know for sure that Google has a bicycle outfitted with the Streetview cam. They have completed street view for city parks and college campuses in Chicago and other major cities with this.
Look at the street view halfway across to see a line of Segways. Maybe Google has a camera Segway. Probably a bicycle, though. Look for a shadow.
So...it appears that Google has a Street View Bicycle, unless the car violated some very serious access rules! But, there are street views in the area of this bridge where cars would not fit, so either a bicycle or someone on foot with a camera was on the loose...this would be great, as we would be provided street views of some of the incredible historic trail bridges out there!
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mn/hennepin/bh45221/
Recently repaired and restored:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/historicbridges/93835.html#featur...
https://www.minneapolisparks.org/news/2019/05/13/commemorate...
Also, great historic photo from sometime in the 60s or 70s:
https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/CPED...