This elegant railroad bridge with a swing span was built for the Kentucky & Indiana (K&I) RR , which operated an Interurban railway service between the cities of New Albany IN and Louisville KY.
Blasterz counted 6 through-trusses on this very interesting bridge: Four Parker through trusses, including the swing segment, and two Pennsylvania arched through trusses.
Although the Interurban railway use is long discontinued, and car traffic was banned in 1979, the bridge still serves these communities in 2022 as a railroad bridge.
From Bridgehunter.com: (
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"Description
Built to replace an earlier bridge opened in 1886, the current structure was built in 1911-1912 with a vehicular deck opening in 1913. The northbound vehicular portion was closed in 1979 after a portion collapsed. Employees of the company are still allowed to use the South Bound Lane to get across the river. CSX uses the bridge today. In the past it had been used by B & O, Monon and Southern. It was built with a swing span but only opened for traffic twice. In 1955 it was permanently "Locked down" and fixed shut. The bridge is 100 ft above river pool level.
Facts
Overview
Through truss railroad bridge over Ohio River between Louisville and New Albany
Location
New Albany, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Floyd County, Indiana
Status
Open to railroad traffic
History
Built 1912; Interurban traffic ends 1946; road deck partially collapsed and closed to northbound traffic. Company employees can use southbound lane.
Builders
- American Bridge Co. of New York
- Foster-Creighton-Gould Co. of Nashville, Tennessee
Railroads
- Interurban
- Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad (K&IT)
- New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway (NA&L)
- Norfolk Southern Railway (NS)
Design
Pennsylvania through truss w swing
Dimensions
Total length: 2,713.0 ft. (0.5 mi.)
Deck width: 70.0 ft.
Also called
K&I Bridge
K&IT - Ohio River Bridge
New Ohio River Bridge
Inventory number
BH 18829 (Bridgehunter.com ID)"
And from the Three Bridges blog: (
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"K & I Bridge Built in 1886 and rebuilt in 1911
The first K & I Bridge connecting Louisville and New Albany was constructed from 1881 to 1885 and opened in 1886. Originally, it included a single track and two wagon ways allowing wagons and other animal powered vehicles to cross the river other than by ferry. Motorized vehicles were virtually nonexistent.
Upon opening, the bridge company also offered the Daisy Line, an early steam locomotive commuter train service. (cars were painted yellow with brown trimming, resembling a black-eyed susan, hence the name). In 1893 the Daisy Line trains became electrified, the first steam to electric conversion in the U.S., even preceded the electrification of the famous Chicago's 'L' trains by two years.
Passengers traveled in multi-unit three-car elevated electric trains from 1st, 4th and 7th Street elevated stations plus other stations between Louisville and New Albany. This rapid transit service was wildly popular, with its 15 minute service and convenient schedules from 6am to midnight. By 1906 a survey found 3,425 commuter passengers crossing daily and 1,250,000 per year on these rapid electric trains. The last commuter train crossed the K & I Bridge in December, 1945.
In 1910 the bridge company was renamed the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Co. From 1910 to 1911, the bridge was rebuilt and double tracked to handle increasingly heavier train and now automobile traffic,
The bridge also featured a rotating swing span opening for the passage of ships in high water. The bridge was only opened four times, twice for testing in 1913 and 1915, then in 1916 for the passage of the steamer "Tarascon" and in 1920 for passage of the Australian convict ship "Success". In 1955 the K&I sought and received permission to permanently tie down the swing span from the Corps of Engineers.
In 1979, an overweight dump truck caused a small segment of the steel grate roadway to sag about 1 foot. Workers quickly repaired the roadway deck but automotive traffic was banned thereafter by the bridge owner."