CP - Kinnickinnic River Swing Bridge
Photos
Still Very Active
A CPRR northbound freight crosses the bridge. Although it doesn't make river openings anymore, the bridge carries a great deal of rail traffic every day.
Photo taken by J.R. Manning in July 2008
BH Photo #117186
No longer in operation
Written by J.R. ManningThe Canadian Pacific petitioned the Coast Guard in 2003 to leave the bridge in a closed position, unmanned, because the last time there was a call to open the bridge was June 13, 1997. At the time of the petition, there were no active marine operations west of the bridge that would require opening it.
The Coast Guard does hold the right to call for the bridge to be operational with 12 months notice.
A bridge immediately to the west, that was part of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, has been removed.
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Kinnickinnic River on Canadian Pacific Railroad
- Location
- Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1898
- Railroads
- - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (MILW; CMStP&P; CMStP)
- Design
- Through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 200.0 ft.
Total length: 285.0 ft.
- Also called
- MILW - Kinnickinnic River Swing Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +43.00825, -87.90885 (decimal degrees)
43°00'30" N, 87°54'32" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/425930/4762131 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Milwaukee
- Inventory number
- BH 36733 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- October 20, 2014: Updated by John Marvig: Added category "Bobtail Swing Bridge"
- June 16, 2014: Updated by John Marvig: Added information
- July 23, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Navigable waterway", "Railroad"
- November 1, 2009: Updated by J.R. Manning: Corrected ownership
- July 10, 2008: New photo from J.R. Manning
- June 30, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning
- June 25, 2008: Updated by J.R. Manning
- June 24, 2008: Essay added by J.R. Manning
Related Bridges
- MILW - Kinnickinnic River Lift Bridge (Predecessor) - (Allegedly)
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- Douglas Butler
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
I store my sailboat at Southwind Marine, immediately west of the subject bridge, and have done so since 2009. This bridge opens daily, with two hours advanced notice, throughout the entire boating season. (Subject to scheduled RR traffic.)
Gary, the statement about the bridge no longer opening was taken from Coast Guard documentation. If you are operating the bridge, there obviously has been a change in the status that we are not aware of.
as to the comment that the bridge doesn't operate for river traffic anymore, I personally have operated this bridge for boat traffic and can attest that it opened for boat traffic yesterday.
this is actually on the Canadian Pacific (CPRR), not the Canadian National (CNRR)
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/wi/milwaukee/bh36733/
The swing bridge is operational & opens for sail boats. The bridge farther east towards Lake Michigan is kept in the open position but this one near KK Ave bridge is operational