ASB Bridge
| ASB Bridge | |
|---|---|
ASB Bridge from Westport Landing, span in lowered position, in 2006
|
|
| Coordinates | 39°06′59″N 94°34′47″W / 39.116527°N 94.57974°WCoordinates: 39°06′59″N 94°34′47″W / 39.116527°N 94.57974°W |
| Carries | Railroads, and formerly Automobiles |
| Crosses | Missouri River |
| Locale | Kansas City, Missouri to North Kansas City, Missouri |
| Official name | Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge |
| Other name(s) | Winner bridge, Fratt Bridge |
| Maintained by | BNSF Railway |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | double-deck truss bridge with vertical lift |
| Total length | 1,282 ft (391 m) |
| Longest span | 428 ft (130 m) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1911 |
| Closed | 1987 (road deck) |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | 27 cents (until 1927) |
The Armour-Swift-Burlington (ASB) Bridge, also known as the North Kansas City Bridge and the LRC Bridge, is a rail crossing over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri that formerly also handled car traffic.
The piers were built in 1890. However, later that year, lack of funding prevented the bridge from being built. In 1909, Waddell & Harrington designed the current bridge and construction started. The bridge is one of two of this type that had car traffic on Route 9 on the upper level, and rail traffic on the lower level. The lower deck could be raised to permit riverboats to pass without interrupting car traffic on top. This design allowed the hangers from the lower deck to go through the truss members of the upper deck.
It was built by a combination of Armour Packing Company, Swift & Company, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
In 1987, the Heart of America Bridge opened to the east to replace the vehicular portion.
In 1996, the remaining part of the ASB was designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a national landmark in civil engineering. The bridge is now owned by the BNSF Railway. The ASB has a 428-foot main span, and makes it the ninth-longest vertical-lift drawbridge in the United States. It is also a tourist attraction, as many people visit it each year. This is also one of two of this type ever built.
1890: Nine stone masonry piers built; engineer John Alexander Low Waddell did not agree with piers, funding ceased and the piers would sit unused until 1909.
1909: The companies of Armour Packing House, Swift and Company, and Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad put in funds to build bridge. Piers shaved to ten feet above high-water mark, J.A.L. Waddell's firm of Waddell & Harrington created a new design, work begins.
...
Wikipedia