Rulo Rail Bridge

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Rulo Rail Bridge from the Nebraska side. The road bridge is just to the south.

The Rulo Rail Bridge is a truss bridge across the Missouri River connecting Rulo, Nebraska with Holt County, Missouri and is used by the BNSF Railway to transport coal from Wyoming and Colorado to Midwest power plants.

The original bridge was built in 1887. It was fabricated in England and reassembled at Rulo. In the summer of 1977 the steel truss was replaced in 48 hours when sections of the new bridge were assembled on either side of the river, then lifted on to falsework towers on barges on both sides of the up and downstream sides. The new bridge was placed on the upstream towers and the old bridge was moved to the downstream side and then new bridge was placed on the original 1887 piers. The total cost of the operation was $6.7 million.

Prior to the replacement only grain rather than coal trains could cross the bridge.