Hastings Rail Bridge

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Hastings Rail Bridge
A special-excursion passenger train crossing the bridge in 2010.
Coordinates	44°44′48″N 92°50′52″W / 44.74667°N 92.84778°W / 44.74667; -92.84778
Carries	Canadian Pacific Railway and the Amtrak Empire Builder
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Hastings, Minnesota
Maintained by	Canadian Pacific Railway
ID number	L-268
Characteristics
Design	Lift bridge
Total length	1,755 feet (535 m)
Longest span	324 feet (99 m)
Clearance below	60 feet (18 m) (span lifted), 21.9 feet (6.7 m) (span down)
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks	1
History
Opened	1981
Statistics
Daily traffic	20.0 trains per day (as of 2014[update])[1]
Location

Hastings Rail Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that spans the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minnesota. It is one of only four lift spans on the Mississippi River, the others being at Hannibal, Missouri, Burlington, Iowa and in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. It was built in 1981 by Milwaukee Road and was designed by Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff.

It crosses the Mississippi river in a north–south orientation from Hastings just upstream of Point Douglas, where the Saint Croix River empties into the Mississippi river. In addition to CP Rail traffic, the bridge also carries Amtrak's Empire Builder across the river.

Another nearby lift bridge is the Prescott BNSF lift bridge, in Prescott, Wisconsin that crosses the St. Croix River. The two tracks converge at the St. Croix interlocking tower.