IA57 Overpass

Photos

Contextual View Of South Side Of Overpass Looking Northeast From Abandoned Overpass

The bridge carried US 20 in Ackley. US 20 was relocated about 7 miles south of town on October 7, 1991.

Photo by Bruce A. Harms, LBA; Summer 1996, for HAER

View photos at Library of Congress

BH Photo #122877

Map

Map Links

Street View

Facts

Overview

Deck plate girder bridge over Illinois Central Railroad on IA57 / Old US 20 in Ackley

Location

Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa, and Franklin County, Iowa

Status

Replaced by a new bridge

History

Built 1932, Removed April 2013

Builders

- Iowa State Highway Commission of Ames, Iowa (Designer)
- Weldon Brothers Construction Co. of Iowa Falls, Iowa

Railroads

- Canadian National Railway (CN)
- Chicago, Central & Pacific Railroad (CC)
- Illinois Central Railroad (IC; ICG (1972-1988))

Design

"Designed by the Iowa State Highway Commission, the continuous steel plate girder of two asymmetrical spans is broken into two unequal lengths with an interesting detail off-center of the middle pier.

"Located on the northern edge of Ackley in the Etna Township on the county line dividing Franklin and Hardin Counties, the Illinois Central railraod tracks which were instrumental in the rapid development of Ackley...In 1932, the IC Overpass replaced an old wooden viaduct built in 1903. When it was built in 1932 the road which it carried was also upgraded from a local gavel road to a paved interstate highway. The new overpass is a continuous steel plate deck through girder 334' long. It is of unorthodox design having to fit at an acute angle to the railroad line. In terms of its construction, it represents the era's response to the demands of the speedier and heavier motor vehicles and the highways which had to be redesigned to accomodate them.

"This document was prepared as part of the Iowa Historic Bridges Recording Project performed durng the Summer of 1996 by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). The project was sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation. (IDOT). Preliminary research on this bridge was performed by Clayton B. Fraser of Fraserdesign, Loveland, CO."
`

Dimensions

Length of largest span: 105.0 ft.
Total length: 336.0 ft.
Deck width: 24.0 ft.

Recognition

Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places

Also called

US20 Overpass

Approximate latitude, longitude

+42.55675, -93.04716 (decimal degrees)
42°33'24" N, 93°02'50" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")

Approximate UTM coordinates

15/496128/4711595 (zone/easting/northing)

Quadrangle map:

Ackley

Average daily traffic (as of 2011)

1,650

Inventory numbers

IA 27040 (Iowa bridge number)
BH 37361 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Inspection report (as of August 2012)

Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 37.4 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Update Log

April 14, 2013: Updated by John Marvig: Closed April 1st For Removal, Presumed Gone Now
March 24, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Doomed
June 22, 2012: New photo from Jason Smith
March 10, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Merged NBI data
July 27, 2011: New Street View added by Jason Smith
September 4, 2008: Added by J.R. Manning

Sources

J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
HAER IA-81 - Illinois Central Railroad Overpass
Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
Luke
RailPictures.net
John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com