Morgan City (Berwick Bay) Bridge -- Berwick-Morgan City LA
N 29° 41.521 W 091° 12.870
15R E 672750 N 3285992
The Morgan City (Berwick Bay) vertical lift and swing bridge has one truss span from its original 1910s configuration as a swing bridge, and a new vertical lift span that was installed in 1975.
Waymark Code: WMNBWF
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 02/09/2015
Views: 5
This bridge has more names than it has moving parts:
The Southern Pacific Railroad Bridge
The Union Pacific Railroad Lift Bridge
The Union Pacific Vertical Lift and Swing Bridge
The BNSF Railroad Bridge
The Berwick Bay Railroad Bridge
The US Government calls this bridge The Morgan City (Berwick Bay) Railroad Bridge, so that is good enough for Blasterz!
For most of its 100 years, this bridge was purely a swing bridge. Today, it is a combination swing and vertical lift bridge. The vertical lift portion of this handsome bridge was installed as part of the 1975 Atchafalaya River Navigation Project.
The original circa-1915 swing span opens for smaller boats, and the lift span accommodates larger water traffic.
Blasterz looked at this bridge long and hard, wondering if it was a Frankenbridge. The two separate moving spans of many decades-apart vintage were a strong clue, but we finally found proof on a RR pictures website: (
visit link)
"Berwick Bay Bridge
Description: Berwick Bay separates the cities of Morgan City and Berwick, Louisiana. This is a view of the Espee's SUNSET ROUTE bridge from the Berwick shore. The closest truss span was the old swing span. Its location so close to one shore resulted in vessels frequently hitting the bridge. The big vertical-lift span was installed in 1971. Following the UP-SP merger in 1996 the bridge has been owned by the BNSF.
Photo Date: 3/24/1978 Upload Date: 2/16/2010 10:11:18 AM
Location: Berwick, LA
Author: Michael Palmieri"