The Keokuk Bridge, also known as the Keokuk Municipal Bridge, is a double-deck, single-track railway and highway bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States between

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

, and Hamilton, Illinois, just downstream of Mississippi Lock and Dam number 19. It was designed by Ralph Modjeski and constructed 1915–1916 on the piers of its predecessor that was constructed in 1869–1871. Following the completion of the Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge, the upper deck of this bridge, on the Keokuk side, was converted to an observation deck to view the nearby lock and dam; this deck is no longer used for road traffic, but the lower deck is still used for rail traffic. The bridge was originally owned by the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company, but following financial problems in the 1940s, the bridge was given to the City of Keokuk in late 1948. The bridge was originally the western terminus of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad. Today, it serves the Keokuk Junction Railway with occasional train crossings for interconnection and river terminal services. Only the Keokuk side of the highway bridge has been converted, the bridge's upper highway deck is abandoned. The river traffic (barges and boats) have the right-of-way, so the swing section remains open until a train needs to cross the river. On the Illinois side of the bridge, two precast concrete barriers prevent auto traffic from driving on to the old highway section. Keokuk Rail Bridge toll booth

The bridge was documented as survey number IA-3 by the Historic American Engineering Record, archived in the Library of Congress.

External links

*
Keokuk Area Convention and Tourism Bureau
- Observation deck

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place = Mississippi River , bridge = Keokuk Rail Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Fort Madison Toll Bridge , upstream signs = ''BNSF Railway'' , downstream = Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge , downstream signs = Railroad bridges in Iowa Railroad bridges in Illinois Bridges over the Mississippi River Road-rail bridges in the United States Buildings and structures in Keokuk, Iowa Bridges in Lee County, Iowa Tourist attractions in Lee County, Iowa Buildings and structures in Hancock County, Illinois Road bridges in Illinois Road bridges in Iowa Former toll bridges in Illinois Former toll bridges in Iowa 1916 establishments in Iowa 1916 establishments in Illinois Bridges completed in 1916 Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois Historic American Engineering Record in Iowa Interstate railroad bridges in the United States Double-decker bridges

See also

External links