The Fort Madison Toll Bridge (also known as the Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge for the old

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

) is a tolled, double-decked swinging

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

over the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

that connects

Fort Madison, Iowa Fort Madison is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of the 2020 census. Located along the ...

, and unincorporated

Niota, Illinois Niota (also East Fort Madison, East Fort Madison Station) is an unincorporated community in Appanoose Township, Hancock County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The community is located on the bank of the Mississippi River and is at the eastern en ...

. A double-track railway occupies the lower deck of the bridge, while two lanes of road traffic are carried on the upper deck. The bridge is about long with a swing span of , and was the longest and largest double-deck swing-span bridge in the world when constructed in 1927. with It replaced an inadequate combination roadway/single-track bridge completed in 1887. The main river crossing consists of four Baltimore through truss spans and a swing span made of two equal arms, long. In 1999, it was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

under the title, Fort Madison Bridge, ID number 99001035. It was also documented as survey number IA-62 by the

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

, archived at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. Construction and photographic details were recorded at the time in ''Scientific American'' magazine. The bridge is the western terminus of

Illinois Route 9 Illinois Route 9 (IL 9) is a cross-state, east–west rural state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels from Niota at the Fort Madison Toll Bridge, that crosses the Mississippi River into Iowa, eastward across ce ...

which continues eastwards towards Canton, Illinois, about , and Peoria, about .

Iowa Highway 2 Iowa Highway 2 (Iowa 2) is a state highway which runs across the southernmost tier of counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. At no point along its route is Iowa 2 more than from the Missouri state line, except for a small section near its e ...

formerly reached the bridge from the west. On July 26, 1927, operations were transferred from the original single-track bridge to the current double-track bridge. The first opening for river traffic occurred at 11:58 a.m. on July 26, 1927, for the scow , traveling downriver with no barges attached. The bridge is privately owned by BNSF Railway and is the river crossing for the

Southern Transcon The Southern Transcon is a main line of BNSF Railway comprising 11 subdivisions between Southern California and Chicago, Illinois. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, when it opened the Belen C ...

, BNSF's Chicago–Southern California main line. About 65 trains now cross the bridge each day, including

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagsta ...

''. Amtrak's Fort Madison station is west of the bridge. Per Coast Guard regulations and the BNSF Fort Madison River Bridge operations manual, river traffic has the right-of-way over train and vehicle traffic on the bridge. Durations of openings vary depending on weather, river current, size and number of boats, and, occasionally, mechanical problems. A typical opening for a tow with 15 barges lasts 15–20 minutes. The bridge opens over 2,000 times per year, an average of more than five times per day.

Automobile traffic

As of 2022, the upper deck of the Fort Madison Toll Bridge is open to automobile traffic. It is closed to semi-trailer truck traffic. The BNSF, which owns and maintains the bridge has posted the following limits: Gross weight posted as no more than 16,000 Pounds (8 Tons). Width: 8 Ft. Height: 14 Ft. 4 In. Length: 60 Feet.

References

* * * File:Fort Madison Toll Bridge, Fort Madison, Iowa.jpg, The Fort Madison Toll Bridge {{NRHP in Lee County, Iowa Road bridges in Illinois Railroad bridges in Illinois Swing bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States Bridges over the Mississippi River Toll bridges in Illinois Toll bridges in Iowa Road-rail bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1927 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa BNSF Railway bridges Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Bridges in Lee County, Iowa Buildings and structures in Hancock County, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Lee County, Iowa Great River Road Drawbridges on the National Register of Historic Places Fort Madison, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Illinois 1927 establishments in Iowa 1927 establishments in Illinois Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois Historic American Engineering Record in Iowa Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States

Automobile traffic

See also

References