Intercity Viaduct
Timeline
Compiled by James Baughn
- August 1903
- Waddell and Redrick hired to design the bridge
- Aug. 9, 1905
- Groundbreaking ceremony held
- 1907
- Bridge completed and opened to toll traffic
- 1911
- Creditors foreclose on the bridge due to lack of toll revenue
- January 1917
- Kansas legislature authorizes Kansas City, Kansas, to work with K.C., Missouri, to purchase the bridge
- Oct. 30, 1918
- Ceremony held to mark the opening of the bridge to free traffic under city ownership
- 1930
- Lower level roadway added
- Nov. 30, 1936
- Upper level widened to four lanes after streetcar rails removed
- Nov. 12, 1962
- Parallel span opened and old viaduct immediately closed for repairs
- 1963
- Old viaduct reopened to carry eastbound traffic
- Jan. 25, 1969
- Both bridges officially renamed the Lewis and Clark Viaduct
- 1972
- Bridge rehabilitated
Facts
- Overview
- Two-level deck truss bridge over Kansas River on I-70 Eastbound in Kansas City
- Location
- Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas, and Jackson County, Missouri
- Status
- Open to four lanes of traffic on upper level and pedestrian traffic on lower level
- Future prospects
- A new Kansas River Bridge is planed for I-70 to the West of the structure, leaving the future plans for this bridge to become just an onramp from Downtown KCK and Fairfax District to I-70. The New Bridge Project is scheduled to start sometime during or after 2016.
- History
- Completed in 1907; lower level added 1930; parallel span opened in 1962
- Builders
- - Ritter-Conley Manufacturing Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Waddell & Hedrick of Kansas City, Missouri
- Railroads
- - Interurban
- Kansas City Public Service Co. (KCPS)
- Kansas City, Kaw Valley & Western Railway (KV&W; KCKV&W)
- Metropolitan Street Railway Co. (Met)
- Streetcar
- Design
- Main spans: Two riveted, 10-panel double-intersection Warren deck trusses, each 300 ft. long
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 300.0 ft.
Total length: 3,775.9 ft. (0.7 mi.)
Deck width: 51.8 ft.
- Also called
- Lewis and Clark Viaduct (current official name)
Woodsweather Road Bridge (Lower Deck Bridge Name) - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +39.11335, -94.61524 (decimal degrees)
39°06'48" N, 94°36'55" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/360353/4330596 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Kansas City
- Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
- 22,600
- Inventory numbers
- KDOT 0105-B0031 (Kansas Dept. of Transportation bridge number)
BH 18691 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of August 2018)
- Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 42.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- May 2, 2019: Updated by Luke: Added builder and railroads
- October 22, 2016: New Street View added by Dana and Kay Klein
- November 9, 2013: Updated by Chris Knight: Note about the planed new I-70 Bridge
- December 12, 2012: Updated by Chris Knight: We got a duplicate Posting of this bridge here: http://bridgehunter.com/scripts/bridge/edit.cgi?bridgeid=18704 I brought some minor details here from it.
- December 8, 2011: New photos from Doug
- March 9, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Replaced Street View link
- January 3, 2010: New photo from Eric Kinkhorst
- April 30, 2008: Updated by Max Johnson
- April 29, 2008: New photo from Max Johnson
- July 3, 2006: Posted new photos
Related Bridges
- Lewis and Clark Viaduct (Downstream) - The Newer Westbound Companion Structure
Sources
- Eric Kinkhorst - erick [dot] bud [at] gmail [dot] com
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Doug
- Wikipedia
- Dana and Kay Klein
- Luke
- Railroad Gazette - Google Books - Book
Comments
According to this news article, it sounds like this bridge along with the Lewis and Clark viaduct will be demolished in March.
http://www.kctv5.com/story/37411933/kdot-to-close-lewis-and-...
The Fairfax District exit ramp (Exit #423) coming off of westbound I-70 has its own deck truss that is independent of the main westbound truss (this is the new 1962 span). Thus, there are effectively three distinct deck truss bridges on this viaduct.
With a construction date of 1907, this bridge would have to be one of oldest bridges on the US Interstate System, if not the oldest.
Overview 1951 flood
East entrance, 1951
How high is the bridge above the Kansas River?
The lower level of this bridge is not open to auto traffic.
Only bicycles and pedestrians, the lower level was closed somtime in the 80's, restored, and reopened as a pedestrian crossing.
Also, when this bridge was built, it did not have the lower level, the lower level was not added until 1930, and it was only big enough for one lane car traffic.
The reason they closed the lower level to car traffic?
Simple, todays cars are too heavy, cars back in the 30's, 40's, 50's, were not that heavy, however, todys cars and trucks are too heavy for the little one lane truss.
Hard to believe this bridge is celebrating its centennial this year! Most locals would not know that the Lewis and Clark is that old. The Minnesota collapse is bringing about a new inspection of this span.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/wyandotte/intercity/
Other news sources seem to indicate that only the westbound span will be demolished in March. I have been very busy lately and I have not had any chance to really focus on bridges for a while.