Metropolis Bridge

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Coordinates: 37 ° 8 ′ 41 ″  N , 88 ° 44 ′ 31 ″  W.

Metropolis Bridge
Metropolis Bridge
use Paducah & Louisville Railway Canadian National Railway BNSF Railway Union Pacific Railroad Bridge



Crossing of Ohio River
place Metropolis , Illinois and
McCracken County , Kentucky
Entertained by Paducah and Illinois Railroad
(maintenance and operation by BNSF)
construction Truss bridge
overall length 1958 m
width 12 m
Longest span 220 m
Construction height 34 m
Clear height 16 m ( high water )
34 m ( low water )
start of building 1915
opening 1917
planner Charles Hopkins Cartlidge
Ralph Modjeski
location
Metropolis Bridge (USA)
Metropolis Bridge

The Metropolis Bridge is a single-track railroad bridge over the Ohio between the city of Metropolis , Illinois and McCracken County , Kentucky . After several years of planning, it was built between 1915 and 1917 by the Paducah and Illinois Railroad , a construction and operating company founded in equal parts by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad . The almost two kilometer long steel bridge has the world's longest simple truss girder of a railway bridge at 220 meters and was originally designed for a double-track expansion, which was never implemented during its more than 100 years of existence. The Paducah and Illinois Railroad continues to own the bridge, which is now used by several railroad companies from the United States and Canada.

history

Paducah and Illinois Railroad

Location of the bridge over the Ohio and the course of the Paducah and Illinois Railroad , at the top right the city of Metropolis

The construction of the bridge goes back to plans for a connection between Chicago and the Gulf of Mexico , initiated by several railroad companies in the early 20th century , but ultimately only by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (NC) and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), which eventually built an approximately 20-kilometer-long rail link between Paducah in Kentucky and Metropolis in Illinois , including a bridge over the Ohio, to connect their route networks . For the construction and operation of the connection, the Paducah and Illinois Railroad Company was founded around 1914 by the railroad companies in equal parts ; a pure infrastructure company that since then has neither staff nor rail vehicles .

The first investigations into the route and the location of the bridge were carried out between 1906 and 1911, which were finalized in 1912. CB & Q's bridge construction engineer, Charles Hopkins Cartlidge, has been appointed chief engineer and Ralph Modjeski has been hired as a consulting engineer . After the planning phase, execution was delayed with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, among other things due to financial problems. The railway tracks to the bridge location were then laid by mid-1915 and then construction of the bridge began. After a sudden and brief illness, Cartlidge died on June 14, 1916, whereupon Modjeski was entrusted with the further execution as chief engineer; it was completed by the end of 1917.

Joint users of the bridge were the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), which in 1924 acquired a third of the shares in the infrastructure company from the NC and the CB&Q. With the Cairo Rail Bridge, the IC already operated a bridge over the Ohio near Cairo in Illinois; Due to the steadily increasing volume of traffic, however, this was at its capacity limit and the IC had to build an additional bypass route (Edgewood Cutoff) , which was to be part of the Metropolis Bridge .

Planning and construction of the bridge

Construction of the first and, at 220 m, longest lattice girder using derrick cranes in November 1916

After determining the location of the bridge, the most suitable form of construction had to be determined for crossing the approximately one kilometer wide river course of the Ohio. The requirements of the War Department required a clearance of at least 213 meters (700 feet ) for shipping on the Kentucky side and a clearance height of 16 meters, based on the high water level of 1887 (about 32 meters above low water ). For railway bridges of this size were at that time mainly steel - truss bridges used, for large spans Gerber carrier were applied; the longest simple truss between two supports had the MacArthur Bridge in St. Louis with 204 meters.

Construction of the middle truss in October 1917

In the case of the Metropolis Bridge a design showed a cantilever bridge with Gerber support any particular economic advantages or disadvantages, the construction of the cantilever are, however, generally easier and safer, since no additional frameworks are needed, which occurs due to possible floods partially or completely destroyed can. In the current section of the Ohio River, however, the risk was classified as low. In addition, the bedrock was almost 70 meters below the river bed, which could not be reached by means of caissons for the construction of the piers and so they had to rest on the quartz sand above . Cartlidge therefore opted for a classic truss bridge with individual, separate girders, since a later lowering of a bridge pillar would have greater effects on a contiguous tanner girder bridge and, in his opinion, greater rigidity could be achieved with individual truss girders . In order to meet the requirements, however, he had to construct the longest simple lattice girder ever built with a span of 220 meters, which has since remained unsurpassed for railway bridges.

Total designed Cartlidge and Modjeski for about a kilometer long central part of the bridge seven truss 76 to 220 meters in length, the eight current pillars of reinforced concrete resting. In order to achieve the required clear height of 32 meters above low water, extensive ascending driveways were connected, which were realized by trestle bridges a total of another kilometer in length. The construction of the river piers was carried out from mid-1915 by the Union Bridge & Construction Co. from Kansas City and the manufacture and construction of the steel superstructure by the American Bridge Company . The 220-meter girder was erected using derrick cranes from August 1916 and was completed in December after 106 days. The smaller girders followed until December of the following year - the trestle bridges for the access roads were built in the meantime - and the first train was able to pass the bridge on December 15, 1917.

Todays use

The rail link between Paducah and Metropolis , including the Metropolis Bridge , which has existed for over a hundred years , is still owned by the Paducah and Illinois Railroad . Over the years, the shares in the pure infrastructure company have been transferred to other railway companies, some of which continue to use the connection. The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway merged with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1957 , which became part of the CSX Corporation in the 1980s . The shares in Paducah and Illinois Railroad were sold in 1996 by CSX Capital Management to Paducah & Louisville Railway . The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad had been part of the Burlington Northern Railroad since 1970 , which merged into the BNSF Railway in 1996 . The Illinois Central Railroad as a third shareholder was bought in 1998 by the Canadian National Railway . Union Pacific Railroad trains also run across the bridge.

description

Schematic drawing of the Metropolis Bridge over the Ohio River from 1915. The total length is almost 2 km, half of which is accounted for by the central truss. The clearance height is around 16 m at high tide; Lengths in the Anglo-American units feet (′) and inches (″).

Truss of the main bridge

Seven steel trusses of various sizes and designs span the river . Starting from the north on the Illinois side, these are one girder with a length of 91 m, four with a length of 168 m and one with a length of 220 m, each with a curved top chord and track below, as well as a 76 m long parallel chord girder with track above on the Kentucky Side in the south. The first and last trusses are designed as simple stud frameworks, the five large trusses have additional posts as well as additional longitudinal and transverse struts in the lower area, which further subdivides and reinforces the framework fields. This design, known as the Pennsylvania truss , was developed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and used until the 1930s. With higher load capacities, it was more material-saving in design than older truss constructions, which was important in order to minimize the dead weight, especially with large spans.

For structural reasons, the construction height increases with the span. For the largest girder of the Metropolis Bridge this is 34 m, with a width of about 12 m; the up to one meter wide belts of the trusses have a distance of about 11 m between their central axes. The structural elements of the five large girders, which are only subjected to tensile loads, are made up of eye poles up to 22 m in length and connected to each other and to the rest of the bars and straps with bolts between 30 and 40 cm in diameter ; all other connections are riveted . A total of 3540 t of steel was used for the 220-meter truss, with the heaviest parts of the belts weighing up to 40 t. In the case of railway bridges, the longest classic lattice girder ever built should remain between two supports ( single-span girders ). Modjeski later designed a girder of a similar design and length for a railway bridge for the Mears Memorial Bridge (1923) in Alaska with a length of 213 m. In 1929, a road bridge with a classic truss of 218 m length was built with the Brookport Bridge , which leads the US Highway 45 a few kilometers upstream from the Metropolis Bridge over the Ohio, and with the Jennings Randolph Bridge from 1977 near East Liverpool - for the US Highway 30 - also a truss road bridge over the Ohio with a 227 meter girder.

Construction of the caisson of pillar No. 6 before it was lowered in 1915; Base area 18 m × 34 m

The trusses rest on seven large river pillars and a smaller one on the south bank (numbered from north to south). The seven large pillars were erected using caissons , and a coffer dam was used for the smaller ones . Since the bedrock could not be reached at a depth of around 70 m, the large pillars could only be lowered into the layer of quartz sand above ; at depths of up to 30 m below low water. In order to ensure sufficient stability in this subsoil, exceptionally large areas of the caissons and thus the later foundations were used. For the most heavily loaded 6th pillar (between the 220-meter girder and a 168-meter girder) this was 18.4 m × 33.7 m. The pillars gradually taper towards the top to 3.4 m × 13.4 m.

Trestle bridges of the driveways

Canadian National Railway freight train on Illinois Side Trestle Bridge 2012

The 1068 m long main bridge is joined by slightly rising Trestle bridges on both sides . The one on the north side in Illinois has a length of 486 m, the one on the south side in Kentucky is significantly shorter with 184 m, the slope is 3 ‰ for both. Both bridges consist of a total of 17 steel lattice masts, each of which rests on four concrete foundations, which are anchored in the ground using pile foundations . On the north side, the ensemble is interrupted by three more brick pillars to create enough space for the tracks running under the bridge. 9 m long girder bridges made of solid steel girders rest on the steel lattice masts ; between the pillars, the length varies from 21 to 27 m. A reinforced concrete slab is located on the beam girders to accommodate the ballast bedding of the track. The main bridge and the trestle bridges were designed for double-track expansion. For the second track, additional girder bridges would have had to be attached to the pillars of the Trestle bridges, which were designed to be sufficiently wide. However, since initially only single-track operation was planned, the track ran in the center of the bridge and the girder bridges were centered on the piers. However, the two-pronged expansion has never been implemented in its more than 100-year history.

Railway bridges with the longest single span girders

image bridge completion location Truss type Span 1 Height 1 Width 1 Weight 1 draft
720-ft Span of Metropolis Bridge.jpg Metropolis Bridge
(double track) 2
1917 Metropolis (Illinois)
Ohio River
Pennsylvania truss
( rivet and bolt connections )
220 m 34 m 12 m 3540 t Charles Hopkins Cartlidge
Ralph Modjeski
Rail bridge over the Tanana River.jpg Mears Memorial Bridge
(single track)
1923 Nenana ( Alaska )
Tanana River
Pennsylvania truss
( rivet and bolt connections )
213 m 29 m 12 m 2160 t Modjeski & Angier
L&N bridge at Henderson cut.jpg Henderson Bridge
(double track) 2
1932 Henderson ( Kentucky )
Ohio River
Warren truss 3
( riveted joints only )
204 m 31 m 11 m 4120 t JM Salmon
W. H. Courtenay
MacArthur Bridge (2) cut.jpg MacArthur Bridge
(double track with street level) 4
1912 5 St. Louis ( Missouri )
Mississippi River
Pennsylvania truss
( rivet and bolt connections )
204 m 34 m 12 m
(street level 16 m)
4210 t Boller & Hodge
McAlpine Dam and Railroad Bridge (cut) .jpg Fourteenth Street Bridge
(double track) 2
1919 Louisville, Kentucky
Ohio River
Pennsylvania truss
( riveted joints only )
196 m 35 m 11.5 m 5630 t JC Bland
Truss of K&I Bridge at McAlpine Locks, Louisville, Ky.jpg Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge
(double track with lanes) 6
1912 Louisville, Kentucky
Ohio River
Pennsylvania truss
( rivet and bolt connections )
188 m 35 m 11 m
(with lanes 19 m)
3992 t James B. Willson
1 Details refer to a truss
2 Bridge used only on a single track
3A Warren truss is usually a pure strut framework, but additional posts have been incorporated into the Henderson Bridge ( strut framework with posts )
4th The upper street level will be gradually dismantled from 2013
5 Completion of the trusses, the bridge was only fully opened several years later (1917 road traffic, 1928 rail traffic)
6th Outer lanes closed in 1979

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Metropolis Bridge  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Molly Parker: Railroad company set to 'improve' Metropolis bridge. ( April 8, 2015 memento on the Internet Archive ) The Southern Illinoisan, March 3, 2015.
  2. ^ A b The Ohio River Bridge at Metropolis; Record-Breaking Simple-Truss Span. In: Engineering News. Volume 72, No. 5, 1914, pp. 270 f.
  3. ^ A b Surface Transportation Board : Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc - Control Exemption - Paducah & Illinois Railroad Company. (PDF) STB Finance Docket No. 33362, July 9, 1999.
  4. ^ A b Ohio River Bridge for the C., B. & QRR In: Engineering News. Volume 74, No. 5, 1915, pp. 230-232.
  5. ^ Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here p. 59 f.
  6. ^ William D. Middleton, George Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl: Encyclopedia of North American Railroads. Indiana University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-253-34916-3 , pp. 733 f.
  7. ^ A b c William D. Middleton, George Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl: Encyclopedia of North American Railroads. Indiana University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-253-34916-3 , pp. 256 f.
  8. ^ Designing the 720-Foot Metropolis Span. In: Engineering News-Record. Volume 79, No. 25, 1917, pp. 1140-1143.
  9. ^ Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here pp. 61-65.
  10. ^ Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here p. 80 f.
  11. ^ Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River. In: Railway Age Gazette. Volume 59, No. 4, 1915, p. 160.
  12. ^ A b Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here pp. 79-81.
  13. ^ Glenn A. Knoblock: Historic Iron and Steel Bridges in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. McFarland, Jefferson 2012, ISBN 978-0-7864-4843-2 , pp. 33-37.
  14. ^ New Railway Bridge Over Ohio at Metropolis, Ill. In: Engineering News. Volume 76, No. 4, 1916, pp. 151-154.
  15. Erecting and Swinging 720-Ft. Span of Metropolis Bridge. In: Engineering News. Volume 76, No. 25, 1916, p. 1198 f.
  16. Brookport Bridge (Irvin S. Cobb Bridge). Historicbridges.org, accessed June 24, 2018.
  17. Jennings Randolph Memorial Bridge. Bridgehunter.com, accessed July 4, 2018.
  18. ^ Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here pp. 65-73.
  19. ^ Ralph Modjeski: The Metropolis Bridge Over the Ohio River at Metropolis, Ill. In: Journal of the Western Society of Engineers. Volume 24, No. 2, 1919, pp. 59-82, here p. 61.
  20. ^ Louisville & Nashville Completes Outstanding Bridge. In: Railway Age. Volume 94, No. 18, 1933, pp. 658-662.
  21. ^ William E. Rolfe, Lucius H. Cannon: The Municipal Bridge of St. Louis. In: St. Louis Public Library Monthly Bulletin. August 1922, pp. 165-198.
  22. a b Riveted-Truss Span of Record Length. In: Engineering News-Record. Vol. 82, No. 21, 1919, p. 995.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 3, 2018 .