La Crosse - La Crescent Canadian Pacific Railway, Main Channel Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Looking South downstream. Larger barges have to stop and back up to recenter to stay in the main navigation channel when heading downstream. | |
| Coordinates | 43°50′00″N 91°16′53″W / 43.8332°N 91.2813°W |
| Carries | Canadian Pacific Railway and the Amtrak Empire Builder |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Official name | Canadian Pacific Rail Road Bridge #283.27 Tomah Subdivision, La Crescent, MN, Houston County |
| Other name(s) | L4B |
| Maintained by | Canadian Pacific Railway |
| ID number | L4B[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Swing bridge |
| Total length | 1,042 feet (318 m) |
| Width | 20 feet (6 m) |
| Clearance below | 21.9 feet (7 m) |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 1 |
| History | |
| Opened | Existing structure, 1902 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 20.0 trains per day (as of 2014[update])[2] |
| Location | |
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The La Crosse Rail Bridge is a swing bridge that spans the Mississippi River between La Crescent, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin. The first bridge in this location initially was designed and ready to build by June 1876, and was completed in November 1876 by the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, a predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.[3][4] It was later replaced in 1902.[5] It is at the Western end of the Canadian Pacific Railway Tomah Subdivision. Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses this bridge.
- ^ Schuldt, Clay (2011-11-30). "Historic swing bridge an important cross country link". La Crosse Tribune. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
- ^ Missouri Department of Transportation (2017). The Merchants Bridge rehabilitation program (PDF) (Grant application). Figure 10: Rail Traffic Volumes Overlaid with Seismic Hazard, 2014.
- ^ Mansfield Merriman (1919). History of La Crosse County, Wisconsin: Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources : an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages-their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies : Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers : the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. pp. 40–.
- ^ Joan M. Rausch; Richard H. Zeitlin; Carol Lohry Cartwright (1996). City of La Crosse, Wisconsin architectural and historical intensive survey report. Architectural Researches, Inc.
- ^ John Butler Johnson; Henry Harrison Suplee; Johannes H. Cuntz; Charles Buxton Going (1906). The Engineering Index. Engineering Magazine. pp. 108–.