Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Whipple through truss bridge over Missouri River on Douglas Street/US 6/US Alt 30
- Location
- Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, and Pottawattamie County, Iowa
- Status
- Replaced by new bridge
- History
- Built 1888; widened with 3rd truss line added 1922-1924; tolls removed 1947; replaced by I-480 bridge in 1966
- Builder
- - Omaha & Council Bluffs Railway & Bridge Co.
- Railroads
- - Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co. (O&CB)
- Omaha Traction Co. (OTC)
- Streetcar
- Design
- Whipple through truss
- Also called
- Douglas Street Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.25895, -95.92060 (decimal degrees)
41°15'32" N, 95°55'14" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/255322/4571617 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Omaha North
- Inventory number
- BH 44447 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- February 27, 2021: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- September 10, 2019: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
- August 15, 2016: Updated by Nathan Holth: Added history: Years third truss line was added to widen bridge.
- August 15, 2016: New photo from Luke
- August 15, 2016: New photo from Art Suckewer
- October 7, 2014: Updated by Luke: Added categories "Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co.", "Railroad", "Rail-and-Road", "Streetcar"
- April 26, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added builder
- August 4, 2010: New photos from Eric Kinkhorst
- March 14, 2010: Added by James Baughn
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Eric Kinkhorst - erick [dot] bud [at] gmail [dot] com
- Luke
- Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- Geoff Hubbs
- Engineering News-Record 1925-06-18: Vol 94 Iss 25
Comments
The comment about the Lincoln Highway being an overlay of the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge requires further explanation. When the original Lincoln Highway route was laid out, the original path was through Missouri Valley crossing the Missouri River at Blair, Nebraska. This would be U. S. 30 East-West main route. When Southwest Iowans and Nebraskans in the Omaha area learned it would by-pass Omaha-CB, there was considerable consternation. The protest was so loud, the Lincoln Highway promoters decided to build a connector loop from Missouri Valley to Council Bluffs to Omaha and then up the west side of the Nebraska side to Blair. This later became U. S. 30 Alternate. When I used to cross the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge, it was formally an overlay of U. S. 6, U. S. 75 and U. S. 30A. My memories are from 1957-1966.
Yes, the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge was part of the Lincoln Highway.
Barry, it looks like the Lincoln Highway logo to me but I haven't researched the route, so I'm not certain.
Regards,
Art S.
In picture #4: Is that the blue "L" logo of the Lincoln Highway painted on it? Comparing the steel members with the size of the cars and people, I can see that this was a very heavily built bridge.
Nice write-up on the history of the bridge:
http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/jim-...
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ne/douglas/ak-sar-ben/
On the contrary, the Lincoln Highway was routed through Blair AFTER the completion of the Blair Bridge in 1929:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway_(Omaha)