Fort Madison Toll Bridge
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Fort Madison Toll Bridge | |
Carries | 2 lanes of IA 2 and IL 9 and rail lines |
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Crosses | Mississippi River |
Locale | Fort Madison, Iowa and Niota, Illinois |
Maintained by | BNSF Railway |
Opening date | July 1928 |
Coordinates |
The Fort Madison Toll Bridge (also known as the Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge for the old Santa Fe rail line) is a tolled, swinging truss bridge bridge over the Mississippi River that connects Fort Madison, Iowa and unincorporated Niota, Illinois. Rail traffic occupies the lower deck of the bridge, while two lanes of road traffic occupy the upper deck. It is widely considered the longest double-deck swing-span bridge in the world. Completed in 1927, it replaced an inadequate combination single-track / roadway bridge completed in 1887. The main river crossing consists of four 270 foot through truss spans and a swing span made of two equal arms, 266 feet long. In 1999, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places under the title, Fort Madison Bridge, structure #99001035. It was also documented by the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record, survey number HAER IA-62.
The bridge is the eastern terminus of Iowa Highway 2, and the western terminus of Illinois Route 9. Iowa 2 runs westwards towards Farmington, Iowa (23 miles/37 km), while Illinois 9 continues eastwards towards Canton, Illinois (~80 mi/129 km) and Peoria (~100 miles/162 km). The Fort Madison Toll Bridge was opened in July of 1928.
The bridge is currently owned by BNSF Railway and Amtrak's Southwest Chief crosses the bridge.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress) Survey number HAER IA-62
- Weeks, John. "US-136 Bridge, Keokuk, IA". http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/upper_mississippi/pagesB/umissB11.html. Retrieved January 18, 2006.
- Crews Tackle Mississippi River Bridge Work
Bridges of the Mississippi River | |||
---|---|---|---|
Upstream Burlington Rail Bridge |
Fort Madison Toll Bridge |
Downstream Keokuk Rail Bridge |
Categories: Bridges in Illinois | Bridges in Iowa | Registered Historic Places in Iowa | Swing bridges | Truss bridges | Bridges on the Mississippi River | Toll bridges in Illinois | Toll bridges in Iowa | Road-rail bridges | Bridges completed in 1927 | United States bridge (structure) stubs | Illinois building and structure stubs | Iowa building and structure stubs