Old Vicksburg Bridge

The Old Vicksburg Bridge, also known as Mississippi River Bridge, is a cantilever bridge carrying one rail line across the Mississippi River between Delta, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Old Vicksburg Bridge
Mississippi Railroad Bridge Vicksburg
Coordinates	32°18′53″N 90°54′21″W
Carries	1 CPKC rail line, one service lane
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Delta, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi
Maintained by	Canadian Pacific Kansas City
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever bridge
Total length	8,546 feet (2,605 m)
Longest span	825 feet (251 m)
Clearance below	116 feet (35 m)
History
Opened	May 1, 1930
Statistics
Daily traffic	17.3 trains per day (as of 2014[update])[1]
Mississippi River Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Louisiana Show map of the United States Show map of Mississippi Show map of the United States
Location	Spans Mississippi River on Old US 80, Vicksburg, Mississippi and Delta, Louisiana
Coordinates	32°18′53″N 90°54′21″W
Built	1928
Architect	Vicksburg Bridge and Terminal Co.
Architectural style	Cantilevered truss span
MPS	Historic Bridges of Mississippi TR
NRHP reference No.	88002423[2]
Added to NRHP	February 14, 1989
Location

History

Old Vicksburg Bridge

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.^[2]

It was built by the Vicksburg Bridge & Terminal Co. during 1928-1930 and has three cantilevered truss spans and three Parker truss spans.^[3]

Until 1998, the bridge was open to motor vehicles and carried U.S. Route 80 (US 80) across the Mississippi River. It is now only a railroad bridge, though one road lane runs through the bridge for inspection by workers. It was replaced by the new Vicksburg Bridge, a short distance down river, for vehicle crossings. During this period, a rather unusual system was used to accommodate tractor-trailer traffic on the bridge. Located at each end of the bridge were railroad-style signal towers that required trucks to stop on command. Prior to installation of the towers trucks were allowed to traverse the bridge alongside other passenger and train traffic. Once put in place the towers effectively closed off traffic for all vehicles in both directions to allow trucks to cross the bridge alone, using the full width of both of the narrow lanes. Due to numerous safety concerns, crossings by trucks were limited to daytime, with trucks being required to wait until dawn before being allowed on the bridge.

See also

• Transport portal
• Engineering portal
• United States portal
• Mississippi portal
• List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Madison Parish, Louisiana
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Warren County, Mississippi

References

1. Missouri Department of Transportation (2017). The Merchants Bridge rehabilitation program (PDF) (Grant application). Figure 10: Rail Traffic Volumes Overlaid with Seismic Hazard, 2014.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
3. Jack D. Elliott Jr. (1988). "Mississippi Historic Bridge Survey: Mississippi River Bridge". (which notes as its source the Jackson "Clarion Ledger" of May 21, 1980) With photo from 1987.