Highways, Byways, And Bridge Photography |
Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge
Missouri River Railroad Crossing
Omaha, NE
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• Structure ID: |
N/A. |
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• Location: |
River Mile 615.2. |
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• River Elevation: |
961 Feet. |
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• Railroad: |
Union Pacific Railroad. |
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• Daily Traffic Count: |
x Trains Per Day (Estimated). |
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• Bridge Type: |
Steel Through Truss. |
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• Length: |
1,750 Feet, 250 Foot Longest Span. |
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• Width: |
27 Feet, 2 Tracks. |
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• Navigation Channel Width: |
238 Feet. |
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• Height Above Water: |
62 Feet. |
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• Date Built: |
1916 Using 1888 Piers. |
The Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge at Omaha is one of the most
strategically important railroad bridges in the United States. While
the Mississippi River has a number of railroad bridges, many of which are
relatively close together and underutilized, there are comparatively few
major railroad bridges over the Missouri River. The United States runs
on coal, and that coal largely comes out of the Powder River Basin in
Wyoming. It moves east in long unit trains, crossing the Mighty Mo
either here at Omaha, or using a BNSF bridge just north of Omaha at
Blair. Further, the line through Omaha was one of the few railroad
crossings that was unaffected by the recent monumental flood on the
Missouri River. Any incident that would impact this bridge could
seriously back up rail traffic that would quickly be felt across
the northeastern and Midwest segments of the nation.
The river crossing here dates back to 1872. The Union Pacific and Central
Pacific completed a rail line from Omaha to the west coast in 1869. However,
they had no way to connect this line to the eastern railroad network. A
connection was completed through Kansas City in 1870, which left Omaha being
the poor sister to Kansas City, which grew into the major railroad hub
west of Chicago. Omaha desperately wanted to stay in the game by attempting
to lay track over the ice on the frozen Missouri River. That ended up
being futile due to the shifting ice.
The first bridge connecting Council Bluffs and Omaha was built in 1872, and
opened on March 25, 1873. This bridge was built using tubular iron piers,
large boxy trusses, and a tall wooden approach trestle. This bridge was
damaged by high winds in 1877 and was replaced in 1888. The 1888 bridge
featured cut stone piers and iron trusses that were built using cables
and pins. Trains grew rapidly in size and weight in the decade leading
up to World War I, rendering this bridge obsolete.
The current bridge was built in 1916 using the piers from the 1888 bridge.
Since the US was gearing up for entry into World War I, it was not
possible to interrupt the flow of materials to tear down the 1888 bridge,
and there wasn't time to start over from scratch on a new bridge. To
solve this problem, engineers pulled off a feat that is only now becoming
practical some 90 years later. They built a set of temporary wood piers on
each side of the existing stone bridge piers. The new bridge truss spans
were built on the temporary piers on the upstream side of the 1888 bridge.
When the new truss spans were completed, the old truss spans were pulled
south onto the temporary wooden piers on the downstream side of the
structure. The new truss spans were then slid into place on top of the
stone piers. This entire operation interrupted railroad traffic less than
one day. Doing something like this with computers and modern hydraulics
is pretty impressive, but doing it with slide rules and steam engines
is nothing short of amazing.
The current bridge configuration is a structure that is 1,750 feet long,
with approximately 1-1/2 miles of approach fill on each side of the
bridge. Heading from west to east, the structure consists of an approximately
160 foot section of deck plate girder, two 125 foot long through truss
spans, four larger 250 foot long Parker through truss spans, a single
125 foot long through truss span, and 150 feet of deck plate girder spans.
The photo above is looking downstream along the Missouri River towards the
north face of the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge. The vantage point
is the Nebraska side of the river at the Lewis & Clark Landing located
about a mile upstream of the structure. The camera angle is shooting under
the Interstate highway I-480 bridge. The train on the bridge is an Ethanol
unit train heading eastbound.
These two photos are the first of 8 that show a train creeping eastbound
across the Missouri River. In the photo above, the locomotives have just
entered the westernmost of the larger truss spans. In the photo below,
the lead locomotive is passing from the second large truss span to the
third large truss span. The vantage point is the public bicycle trail
that passes through the Harrah's Casino parking ramp.
The photo above is a closer view of the lead locomotive as it is entering
the second large truss span. The photo below is the same locomotive as
it is nearing the east end of the smaller truss span on the Iowa side of
the river. Union Pacific #7721 is a General
Electric Evolution series prime mover that features 4,400 horsepower and
six alternating current traction motors. UP designates these as type
C45ACCTE. This locomotive, which entered service in July, 2007, is much
more fuel efficient and produces 40% less emissions than locomotives that
it replaced.
The photo above shows the locomotive on the deck plate girder span right
above the Iowa Riverfront Trail, while the photo below shows the lead
locomotive nearing the east bridge abutment. In this view, we can see
that the second and third locomotives are a different type, the EMD
SD70M. The second locomotive is cab number #4806, which entered service
in July, 2002. The SD70M is rated at 4,000 horsepower.
These two photos are the last of 8 showing a train crossing the UP Missouri
River Bridge heading eastbound. These two photos were taken from the Iowa
Riverfront Trail from a vantage point located just south of the structure.
The photo above is a wider view of the bridge as it passes over the trail,
while the photo below is a closer shot of the train cars as they exit the
smaller truss span near the east end of the bridge. These cars are newer
high cubic foot capacity refrigerator cars. UP started an effort to win
back fresh vegetable transport from California and Arizona, so they
purchased these new cars. They are painted white to help dispel a history
of having dirty equipment that was unsuited for carrying fresh food. Note
that these cars are marked with letters ARMN rather than the older UPFE,
which stood for Union Pacific Fruit Express. UP went so far as to create
a new entity to own these cars.
The photo above is the west portal of the UP Missouri River Bridge. The
vantage point is looking west from the parking lot at the Amtrak station
in Omaha. The photo below are the two smaller truss spans at the west
end of the river crossing. The vantage point is looking northeast from
Pierce Street near South 4th Avenue in Omaha.
These two photos are additional views from Pierce Street in Omaha. The
photo above shows the four larger truss spans, which the photo below
being a close view of the third span (counting from the Nebraska side).
These two photos are looking downriver one mile from Lewis & Clark Landing
on the riverfront in Omaha located just north of Interstate highway I-480.
The river makes a slight bend, which gives the impression that our vantage
point is in mid-channel. The photo above is a closer view of the main
channel span as an Ethanol train crosses eastbound. The photo below
is a wider view of the entire over-water section of the bridge while
the bridge deck was vacant.
These two photos are views looking upstream one and a quarter miles from
near the Interstate highway I-80 bridge. Our vantage point is on the Iowa
side of the river looking north. We see several landmarks behind the
railroad bridge, including the I-480 Grenville Dodge Bridge, Harrah's
Casino (right side of the river), the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center
(left side of river in lower photo), and the remaining pier of the
Ak-sar-ben bridge (right of the railroad bridge pier in the photo below).
The photo above is the view from the surface level parking lot at Harrah's
Casino in Council Bluffs. We can see the smaller truss span and the first
of the larger truss spans at the east end of the structure. The photo below
is the protective structure built over the Iowa Riverfront Trail as it
passes under the railroad bridge. The vantage point is the upper level
of the parking ramp at Harrah's Casino.
These two photos are additional views of the east end of the UP Missouri
River Bridge as it passes over the Iowa Riverfront Trail as seen from
the middle level of Harrah's Casino parking ramp. These two photos were
taken about an hour apart, the upper one with no train present, while
the lower one shows a string of UP reefer cars crawling slowly eastbound.
These two photos show the south face of the deck plate girder spans at
the east end of the bridge. The photo above shows the bridge without a
train on the deck, and also shows the abutment (though it is mostly hidden
by brush). The photo below is a view from the bicycle trail as the same
UP fresh food train heads eastbound.
These two photos show the bottom and side of the truss span located
above one of the cut stone piers near the bicycle trail. Since it is dark
under the bridge, but the sky was very bright, it is not possible to get a
photo that is properly exposed in all areas. As a result, the photo above
is exposed to show the detail under the deck, while the photo below is
exposed to show the side of the bridge and the sky.
The photo above is a view of the Iowa Riverfront Trail as it passes
northbound under the railroad bridge. The photo below is a closer view
of the protective structure over the trail. I am not completely sure why
these structure was built. I didn't see any debris falling off of the
bridge, no any stones falling off of the pier. Rather, I think it is
there for liability purposes in case something were to fall off of a
train, or a worker would drop a tool.
These two photos are views looking north down the length of the protective
structure over the Iowa Riverfront Trail. Again, this is a tough photo
due to the differences in contrast. The photo above was exposed to be
able to see the bridge pier, while the photo below is exposed to see
details of the steel structure.
The photo above is the bridge pier located next to the Iowa Riverfront
Trail. This pier supports the east end of the smaller truss span as
well as one end of a deck plate girder span. I am not sure why the pier
is clad in sheet metal. I suspect it was to prevent water from damaging
the stonework. However, if that was the case, I'd expect it to be better
maintained. The photo below is the next pier heading towards the riverbank,
which, like the other piers, is cut stone without the metal cladding.
The photo above is a close view of the underside of a deck plate girder
span. This appears to be relatively modern steel, but since it is riveted, it
likely predates World War II. The corrugated steel deck is much more modern.
It likely replaced an earlier timber deck that once covered the entire
structure. The photo below is the base of the structural steel tower that
supports the deck plate girder spans on the east end of the bridge.
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