UP - Chippewa Falls Bridge
Description
Originally built 1891 as a 6 span bridge, two spans collapsed in an arson in July 1993. Three secondhand spans (built 1916) from Lake Wissota to replace trusses. Bridge rehabilitated in 2014.Facts
- Overview
- Quadrangular lattice through truss bridge over Chippewa River on Union Pacific Railroad
- Location
- Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County, Wisconsin
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1891 as a 6-span bridge; two spans burned and replaced with secondhand girders in 1993, Piers Rebuilt 2014
- Railroads
- - Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)
- Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway (CMO)
- Union Pacific Railroad (UP)
- Design
- From North to South:
1-24' I-Beam Span (24')
3-100' Deck Plate Girder Spans (300')
1-12' I-Beam Span (12')
2-160' Quadrangular Truss Spans (320')
2-100' Quadrangular Truss Spans (200')
4 Spans Trestle (51') - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 160.0 ft.
Total length: 907.0 ft.
- Also called
- C&NW Bridge #614
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +44.93479, -91.37920 (decimal degrees)
44°56'05" N, 91°22'45" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/627888/4976984 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Chippewa Falls
- Inventory number
- BH 51867 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 23, 2015: New photos from Charles Kuehn
- August 24, 2015: New photos from John Marvig
- March 26, 2014: New photos from John Marvig
- April 27, 2012: Photo imported by John Marvig
- March 26, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
- March 24, 2012: Added by John Marvig
Related Bridges
- C&NW - Lake Wissota Bridge (Parts reused from) - Three spans reused
Sources
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Charles Kuehn
- John Marvig Railroad Bridge Photography - John Marvig's Page Documenting This Bridge
Comments
Zachary S,
I haven't been to this bridge in a while. Its only a couple hours from home, and I now have a drivers license. I'd love to revisit, mainly because its easier to access the far end now. They replaced the trestle approach and the wooden piers this summer. This bridge has seen its better days. This whole area is worth a visit. Wisconsin has some good bridges.
It's always interesting how, particularly with railroad bridges, events through time such as the fire and partial replacements, etc. can eventually lead to a bridge with an odd and unusual span configuration and type, with varying ages and truss designs mixed in with girder spans and trestle approaches. Gives 'em a lot of character, though of course it does damage the historic integrity a bit.
Those fire fighters in 1993 were not too smart fighting the fire standing on one of the spans supported by the burning pier. Fortunately, the span they weren't standing on collapsed first.
http://www.chippewafalls-wi.gov/meeting%20minutes/2013/Board...
UP is upgrading this bridge. Trestle approach to be replaced, piers to be reinforced.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/wi/chippewa/bh51867/
The bridge is getting another face lift. This time, timber components of the bridge are being replaced, and the trusses shifted about 25 feet to the east on new concrete piers. The comparison between 1894 trusses, 1994 deck girders and 2014 piers will be interesting. The trusses were deemed far stronger than minimum freight rail requirements, and are expected to last much longer. Photos coming soon. Work to be complete in May...