Rating:
9 votes

Cedar River Trail - Ely Road Overpass

Linn County, Iowa

Photos 

Now carries the bike trail

The Cedar Valley Trail occupies this former IANR bridge.

Photo taken by Quinn Phelan

Enlarge

BH Photo #178021

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Stone arch bridge on the Cedar River Trail over Ely Road in Cedar Rapids
Location
Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1887
Builders
- Cedar Valley Quarry of Cedar Valley, Iowa (Extractor)
- Elmer J.C. Bealer of Cedar Valley, Iowa (Stonemason)
Railroads
- Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway (BCRN)
- Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (CRIP (1866-1920); RI (1920-1975) ROCK (1975-1980))
- Rail-to-trail
Design
Stone arch
Dimensions
Span length: 24.0 ft.
Total length: 24.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.1 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 15, 1998
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.94456, -91.63695   (decimal degrees)
41°56'40" N, 91°38'13" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/612983/4644519 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Cedar Rapids South
Inventory numbers
IA 1550 (Iowa bridge number)
NRHP 98000528 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 13845 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (6,924)
Arch (11,552)
Built 1887 (205)
Built during 1880s (1,844)
Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway (144)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (89)
Cedar River Trail (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) (3)
Cedar Valley Quarry (7)
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (1,024)
Deck arch (10,801)
Elmer J.C. Bealer (9)
 Have street view (25,531)
Iowa (6,220)
Linn County, Iowa (226)
NR-listed (2,881)
Open (38,343)
Owned by city (4,957)
Rail-to-trail (1,399)
Railroad (14,425)
Span length under 25 feet (6,575)
Stone arch (2,799)
Total length under 25 feet (2,367)

Update Log 

  • October 22, 2017: Updated by Luke: Added builder
  • March 7, 2017: New photos from John Marvig
  • December 6, 2014: New photos from Dave King
  • April 24, 2014: Updated by Dylan VanAntwerp: Removed category "Iowa Northern Railroad"
  • February 21, 2014: New photo from Jack Schmidt
  • November 19, 2013: New Street View added by Luke Harden
  • October 1, 2013: Photo imported by Dave King
  • September 20, 2013: New Street View added by Dave King
  • August 14, 2013: New photos from John Marvig
  • July 8, 2013: New photos from Diane Martin
  • November 28, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • February 13, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Rail-to-trail"
  • February 10, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Iowa Northern Railroad"
  • September 18, 2010: New photos from Quinn Phelan
  • August 2, 2010: New Street View added by Jason Smith

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Jason Smith - flensburg [dot] bridgehunter [dot] av [at] googlemail [dot] com
  • Quinn Phelan - qphelan [at] earthlink [dot] net
  • Luke
  • John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
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Comments 

Cedar River Trail - Ely Road Overpass
Posted April 24, 2014, by Dylan VanAntwerp (dylan_vanantwerp [at] live [dot] com)

This was never an Iowa Northern RR bridge. Iowa Northern's operations have never extended south of Cedar Rapids on the former Rock Island. The section of line from West Liberty to Cedar Rapids was never operated following the RI's 1980 bankruptcy until its removal shortly thereafter.

IANR Railroad Bridge
Posted July 30, 2012, by Douglas W. Jones (jones [at] cs [dot] uiowa [dot] edu)

This bridge was built by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern (BCR&N). That line was merged into the Rock Island system in about 1903. The IANR was formed from some of the ashes of the Rock Island when the Rock was broken up after bankrupcy. Much of the stone used in stone BCR&N bridges was quarried from the Cedar Valley Quarries (Bealer Quarries), now Cedar Valley Park, a Cedar County Conservation Area.