Metropolis Bridge
The Metropolis Bridge is a railroad bridge which spans the Ohio River at Metropolis, Illinois. Originally built for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, construction began in 1914 under the direction of engineer Ralph Modjeski.
The bridge consists of the following: (from north to south)
- Deck plate-girder approach spans
- One riveted, 9-panel Parker through truss
- Five pin-connected, Pennsylvania through trusses
- One pin-connected, 8-panel Pratt deck truss
- Deck plate-girder approach spans
Total length of the bridge is 6,424 feet (1,958 m). The largest span stretches 708 feet (216 m), and remains the longest pin-connected simple through truss span in the world. Cost of the bridge when built was $4,000,000.
Not long after completion in 1917, ownership of the bridge was passed on to the Paducah and Illinois Railroad, a newly formed railroad jointly owned by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. In 1925, the Illinois Central Railroad purchased a 1/3 share of the Paducah and Illinois Railroad, and assumed operations and maintenance, as the bridge served as an important link in their newly completed Edgewood-Fulton Cutoff route.
As of 2013, the bridge is still owned by the Paducah and Illinois Railroad, with operations managed by Illinois Central Railroad successor Canadian National Railway and bridge maintenance/inspection managed by the BNSF Railway, where it continues to see heavy use.
References
- Cook, Richard J. (1987). The Beauty of Railroad Bridges in North America -- Then and Now. Golden West Books, California (USA). ISBN 0-87095-097-5.
External links
- Historic Bridges of the United States
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- Ashland Coal and Iron Railroad Office
- Ashland Coal and Iron Railroad Store
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Passenger and Baggage Depots
- Henderson, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot
- Hopkinsville L & N Railroad Depot
- Illinois Central Railroad Station and Freight Depot
- Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot
- Louisville and Nashville Railroad Passenger Depot
- Louisville, Henderson, and St. Louis Railroad Depot
- Old L & N Station
- Paris Railroad Depot
- Shelbyville L & N Railroad Depot
- Stanford L&N Railroad Depot
- Union Station (Louisville)
- Union Station (Owensboro)
- Barren River L & N Railroad Bridge
- Big Four Bridge
- Cairo Rail Bridge
- C&O Railroad Bridge
- Cincinnati Southern Bridge
- Fourteenth Street Bridge (Ohio River)
- Henderson Bridge (Ohio River)
- High Bridge of Kentucky
- Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge
- Metropolis Bridge
- Newport Southbank Bridge
- Sciotoville Bridge
- Young's High Bridge
- Cincinnati Southern Railroad Culvert--CSRR
- Lexington Extension of the Louisville Southern Railroad
- Louisville and Nashville Railroad Office Building
- Mitchellsburg Louisville and Nashville Railroad Culvert
- Russell Railroad YMCA
- Tank Pond Railroad Underpass
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