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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 with a station two miles to the west. Since it is owned by the railroad, rail traffic across the bridge takes precedence over barge traffic under it.
Bridge toll is charged only to those crossing from from Iowa into Illinois, and depends on the number of axles a vehicle has.
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The Fort Madison Toll Bridge
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