Western Railroad Discussion > Long steel bridges

What are the longest steel railroad bridges in the West?

Mike Root
Madras, OR

The longest in the US is the Huey Long Bridge in New Orleans...

The BNSF steel bridge is over a mile at Sandpoint, ID.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

Joso is pretty big

I like the Joso bridge and thought it was the longest. Use your favorite map system (Google, Bing, etc.) and it looks like the Sandpoint bridge edges out Joso.

Another one in the same ballpark is the SP Martinez, CA bridge. (edit) 5603

And Mike, if you would like to go north of the border to Lethbridge, Alberta there is the High Bridge at Lethbridge. Between 5300 and 5400 feet long. (edit) 5327

jb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/12 07:31 by jdb.

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but CP's trestle at Lethbridge & UP's Kate Shelley bridge would be in the mix...

DPKrause Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't have the numbers in front of me, but CP's
> trestle at Lethbridge & UP's Kate Shelley bridge
> would be in the mix...

The new bridge at Kate Shelley, though, is not a steel bridge.

Another candidate, at least among bridges crossing valleys (as opposed to the ones like the Huey Long that cross the Mississippi and need long approach ramps) would be the ex-NP bridge at Valley City, ND.

The New Kate Shelly Bridge is constructed with Steel Deck plate Girder spans on Concrete Drilled Shafts that support the spans . Only the approach spans are concrete ( Precast Concrete spans and concrete ballast deck pans on the steel DPG)

Wiki answers says the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway is just under 24 miles long. But I don't know if it's all steel.

Larry Dodgion
Wilsonville, OR

Be interesting to know what is the longest span between piers?

Bob

The MILW's current bridge over the Missouri River at Chamberlain, SD is a little over 4,900' long. I believe it was the longest bridge on the MILW. Grand opening, first train was Dec. 7, 1953. The line is now owned by the State of South Dakota, subleased to Dakota Southern Railway. Recent moves over the bridge were to pull 300+ coal hoppers out of storage.
Alex Huff