Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge

Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge
Fishermen on the Missouri River facing the Union Pacific Bridge.
Carries	Railroad
Crosses	Missouri River
Locale	Council Bluffs, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska
Owner	Union Pacific
History
Construction begin	May 1916
Opened	December 20, 1916

Coordinates: 41°14′59″N 95°55′02″W / 41.249722°N 95.917222°W / 41.249722; -95.917222

The Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge is a rail truss bridge across the Missouri River connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa with Omaha, Nebraska.

When the first railroad bridge on the site opened on March 27, 1872, it connected the First Transcontinental Railroad to the eastern United States. The bridge was rebuilt twice, with the current bridge opening on December 20, 1916.

When the Union Pacific began heading west from Omaha in 1862 there were no railroads connecting to it from the east. After the Chicago and North Western Railway reached Council Bluffs in 1867, the Union Pacific for a while tried to run freight trains across the frozen river during the winter. The Union Pacific Transfer company maintained a ferry service from 1866 to 1872.

In 1869 the transcontinental railroad was completed. An 1871 report to stockholders has this description:

The want of a bridge over the Missouri River, at Omaha to connect the eastern railroads with the Union Pacific, has been one of the most annoying incidents connected with the trip to California ... The bridge is of 11 spans, 250 feet each, 50 feet above high water, resting upon one store abutment now complete; and 11 iron piers, all in place and the larger part already sunk from 60 to 72 feet in the sand, and resting in the bed-rock.

The new single-track railway bridge was completed in 1872 at a cost of 1,750,000 dollars ($35 million in present day terms). It was the first bridge to span the Missouri River at any point. In 1877, a tornado weakened the two easternmost spans, requiring them to be replaced with a wooden trestle.