Cairo Rail Bridge

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Cairo Rail Bridge
Original Cairo Rail bridge, rebuilt in 1951 using original piers
Carries	Single track of Canadian National Railway (formerly Illinois Central Railroad)
Crosses	Ohio River
Locale	Wickliffe, Kentucky and Cairo, Illinois
Design	Simple truss bridge, with steel trestle approaches
Longest span	518.5 feet (158 m)
Total length	20,461 feet (6,236.5 m) (including approaches)
Opening date	October 29, 1889, rebuilt in 1951
Maps and aerial photos

Cairo Rail Bridge is the name of two bridges crossing the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois. The first was an 1889 George S. Morison through truss and deck truss bridge replaced in 1952. The second and current bridge is a through truss bridge that reused many of the original bridge piers. As of 2007, trains like the City of New Orleans^[1] travel over the Ohio River supported by the same piers whose construction began in 1887.

[edit] Original bridge

On July 1, 1887 construction began on the first caisson for the foundations of the bridge piers. The first caisson descended into the riverbed at a rate of around 4 inches (10.2 cm) per day. Two men died and several more were seriously injured sealing the first caisson at a depth of 77 feet (23.5 m). Despite increased precautions following the deaths, a total of five men died of decompression sickness during construction. February 19, 1889 the last pier was completed. The first train crossed the bridge from Illinois to Kentucky on October 29, 1889. Work continued until it was turned over to the railroad on March 1, 1890. Total cost of the structure exceeded $2.6 million, with nearly $1.2 million for the substructure alone. In order to comply with regulations meant to allow steam boat travel on the Ohio, the bridge was required to be 53 feet (16.2 m) above the river's high water mark. This resulted in the structure extending nearly 250 feet (76.2 m) from the bottom of the deepest foundation to the top of the highest iron work. The bridge, substructure and super structure weighed 194.6 million pounds, excluding the approaches. Cairo bridge's two 518.5 feet (158 m) main spans were the longest pin-connected Whipple truss spans ever built. Pier IX, the largest, alone weighed 11,000 tons. At the time, the bridge was the largest and most expensive ever undertaken in the United States. At 10,580 feet (3,224.8 m), it was the longest metallic structure in the world. Its total length was 20,461 feet (6,236.5 m) including wooden approach trestles. Its construction completed the first rail link between Chicago and New Orleans and revolutionized north-south rail travel along the Mississippi River.^[2]