Fort Madison Toll Bridge
| Fort Madison Toll Bridge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Coordinates | 40°37′37″N 91°17′45″W / 40.62694°N 91.29583°W |
| Carries | 2 lanes of IA 2 and IL 9 and rail lines |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Fort Madison, Iowa and Niota, Illinois |
| Other name(s) | Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge |
| Maintained by | BNSF Railway |
| History | |
| Opened | July 26, 1927 |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | $2.00 (eastbound only) |
The Fort Madison Toll Bridge (also known as the Santa Fe Swing Span Bridge for the old Santa Fe rail line) is a tolled, swinging truss bridge over the Mississippi River that connects Fort Madison, Iowa and unincorporated Niota, Illinois. Rail traffic occupies the lower deck of the bridge, while two lanes of road traffic occupy the upper deck. It is widely considered the longest double-deck swing-span bridge in the world. Completed in 1927, it replaced an inadequate combination roadway/single-track bridge completed in 1887. The main river crossing consists of four 270-foot (82 m) through truss spans and a swing span made of two equal arms, 266 feet (81 m) long. In 1999, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places under the title, Fort Madison Bridge, structure #99001035. It was also documented by the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record, survey number HAER IA-62. Construction and photographic details were recorded at the time in Scientific American magazine.
The bridge is the eastern terminus of Iowa Highway 2, and the western terminus of Illinois Route 9. Iowa 2 runs westwards towards Farmington, Iowa (23 miles/37 km), while Illinois 9 continues eastwards towards Canton, Illinois (~80 mi/129 km) and Peoria (~100 miles/162 km). On July 26, 1927, operations were transferred from the original single track bridge to the current bridge. The first opening for river traffic occurred at 11:58 a.m. on July 26, 1927, for the scow C. W. Howell traveling downriver with no barges attached.
The bridge is privately owned by BNSF Railway and is the river crossing for the Southern Transcon, BNSF's Chicago to Southern California main line. About 100 trains are hosted daily on this bridge. Amtrak's Southwest Chief crosses the bridge with one eastbound train in the morning and one westbound train in the evening. The station is two miles (3 km) to the west of the bridge.
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