Frisco Bridge
Frisco Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The Frisco Bridge (center) in 1985. It is flanked by the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (left) and Harahan Bridge (right) | |
| Coordinates | 35°07′43″N 90°04′35″W / 35.12861°N 90.07639°W |
| Carries | BNSF Railway |
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee |
| Maintained by | BNSF Railway |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Cantilevered through Truss bridge |
| Total length | 4,887 feet (1,490 m) |
| Width | 30 feet (9 m) |
| Longest span | 791 feet (241 m) |
| Clearance below | 109 feet (33 m) |
| Rail characteristics | |
| No. of tracks | 1 |
| History | |
| Opened | May 12, 1892 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 32.9 trains per day (as of 2014[update])[1] |
| Location | |
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The Frisco Bridge, previously known as the Memphis Bridge, is a cantilevered through truss bridge[2] carrying a rail line across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee.
Construction
[edit]At the time of the Memphis bridge construction, it was a significant technological challenge and is considered to be chief engineer George S. Morison's crowning achievement. No other bridges had ever been attempted on the Lower Mississippi River.
The bridge is built entirely of open-hearth steel, a newly developed material at the time of construction. The structure features a 790-foot (240 m) main span and two additional 600-foot (180 m) spans. Its 65-foot (20 m) height above the water was the highest clearance of any U.S. bridge of that era. The construction of the piers went nearly 100 feet (30 m) below the water's surface.
Though some sources claim two cantilevered roadways were added to the bridge in the 1930s, one on each side,[3] they probably confuse this bridge with the neighboring Harahan Bridge, which had two cantilevered roadways from 1917 until the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge opened in 1949. (The former roadway on the north side of the Harahan Bridge is now designated as Big River Crossing, having been refitted to carry pedestrian and bicycle traffic across the Mississippi River in 2016.) While the Frisco Bridge has not featured cantilevered roadways, pedestrians, buggies, and some automobiles used its main deck before the Harahan Bridge opened (the bridge was closed to such traffic while a train was crossing).[4]
Construction for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway, later acquired by the "Frisco," began in 1888 and was completed May 12, 1892. In the end the project created a bridge that was the farthest south on the Mississippi River, featured the longest truss span in the United States and cost nearly 3 million dollars.[5]
A testament to its design and construction, the bridge is still used by BNSF Railway and is being renovated as part of a system-wide BNSF infrastructure improvement program.[6] The west approach to the bridge, which was made of 52 spans totaling 340 feet (100 m) in length, was replaced by a new 27-span bridge. This project was completed in 2017.[7] The bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1987.[3][8]
See also
[edit]- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Arkansas
- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Tennessee
- List of crossings of the Lower Mississippi River
References
[edit]- ^ Missouri Department of Transportation (2017). The Merchants Bridge rehabilitation program (PDF) (Grant application). Figure 10: Rail Traffic Volumes Overlaid with Seismic Hazard, 2014.
- ^ Bridge Hunter Historic Bridge Page
- ^ a b American Society of Civil Engineers: Morison's Memphis Bridge
- ^ Weeks, John A. III. "Frisco Bridge, Memphis, TN". Highways & Bridges.
- ^ Fraser, Clayton B. (October 1986). "Nebraska City Bridge" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. pp. 315–380. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ "Historic Frisco Bridge getting extensive makeover by BNSF". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
- ^ "Strand Jacking Optimizes Scheduling and Cost Efficiency in Rail Bridge Overhaul". Engineering News-Record. January 8, 2018. p. 20.
- ^ Waddell, Lisa (October 5, 1987). "Historic bridge to be designated as landmark of civil engineering". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis. p. B4.
External links
[edit]- Frisco Bridge at Structurae
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TN-14, "Memphis Bridge", 61 photos, 4 photo caption pages
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NE-2, "Nebraska City Bridge", 59 photos, 3 measured drawings, 511 data pages, 3 photo caption pages, discusses Chief Engineer George S. Morison and his many bridges, including nearly 50 pages about the Memphis Bridge (Frisco Bridge).
- The Memphis Railroad Bridges
- The Frisco Bridge
- Recent Photos of the Frisco Bridge
Crossings of the Mississippi River | ||||
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- Truss bridges in the United States
- Railroad bridges in Arkansas
- Railroad bridges in Tennessee
- Bridges over the Mississippi River
- Bridges in Memphis, Tennessee
- Bridges completed in 1892
- BNSF Railway bridges
- St. Louis–San Francisco Railway
- Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
- Transportation in Crittenden County, Arkansas
- Buildings and structures in West Memphis, Arkansas
- Steel bridges in the United States
- Cantilever bridges in the United States
- Historic American Engineering Record in Arkansas
- Historic American Engineering Record in Tennessee
- Interstate railroad bridges in the United States
- 1892 establishments in Arkansas
- 1892 establishments in Tennessee