Rating:
2 votes

Old Liberty Bridge

Clay County, Missouri
Share:

Photo 

Old Liberty Bend Bridge

This photo overview (facing south) shows the bridge with old MO-210 Highway in the foreground to the left. This was an upload from another contributor.

Photo uploaded by kentlee@comcast.net and posted to page by John Kritos - February 2011

Map 

Description 

In 1949 the channel of the Missouri River was relocated to the south about a mile, cutting off "Liberty Bend" and shortening the barge channel. A new bridge was built, but 71 bypass (as 291 was known then) continued to cross the former channel on this bridge for twenty years until a new road was built just to the east. Southview Drive dead ends where the old abutment used to be. The replacement UCEB carries the new road over a railroad and up the bluff.

Facts 

Overview
Lost cantilevered through truss bridge over the former channel of the Missouri River on MO 291
Location
Clay County, Missouri
Status
Replaced by new bridge
History
Built ca. 1927; replaced 1973
Design
Cantilevered through truss
Also called
Independence-Liberty Bridge (name shown on quadrangle map)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.19754, -94.40247   (decimal degrees)
39°11'51" N, 94°24'09" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/378893/4339634 (zone/easting/northing)
Land survey
T. 51 N., R. 31 W., Sec. 29
USGS topographic map
Liberty
Inventory number
BH 42780 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built during 1920s (7,033)
Clay County, Missouri (66)
Lost (10,361)
Lost 1973 (16)
Lost during 1970s (136)
Missouri (4,522)
Missouri River (95)
Replaced by new bridge (7,135)
Through truss (9,205)
Truss (23,568)

Update Log 

  • October 26, 2012: Updated by Clark Vance: description edit
  • February 3, 2011: Updated by Clark Vance: Relocated pointer, added description
  • February 1, 2011: New photo from John Kritos
  • June 14, 2009: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • Clark Vance - cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com
  • John Kritos - jmkrito [at] yahoo [dot] com
Post a comment here
Contact webmaster

Comments 

Old Liberty Bridge
Posted April 8, 2011, by Dave (dpcapp [at] gmail [dot] com)

I rode over this one when my family moved to Independence. I don't remember much, but that I enjoyed both of these old trestle bridges. Probably one of the reasons I enjoy seeing old bridges was the day we crossed over the new bridges that replaced this one, and looking over at the remains after the old bridge was demolished. It's a sad image I've never forgotten.

Thanks for the picture of this bridge from my childhood.

Old Liberty Bridge
Posted February 1, 2011, by John Kritos (jmkrito [at] yahoo [dot] com)

I posted Kent's picture to the Bridge's page so that it can be viewed more easily.

Old Liberty Bridge
Posted January 27, 2010, by Kent (kentlee [at] comcast [dot] net)

Here is a picture of the bridge looking south, with Old 210 in the bottom left.

Uploaded file: JPEG image data, JFIF standard 1.01, 106247 bytes